Saint John Energy Is Installing A Tesla Battery To Store Power And Save $15,000 A Month
SAINT JOHN – Saint John Energy has signed a contract with Tesla to install a 1.25 MW/2.5 MWh Tesla Megapack Battery to store power, cut costs and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
“It’s kind of a pilot project but it’s a significant one. It’s a demonstration project of what the batteries can do, so we’re pretty excited to be partnered with Tesla to be doing this, because they’re a very innovative and reputable company,” said Andrew Ahearn, the utility’s manager of engineering.
The purchase of the battery is part of a federally-funded Smart Energy Project for Saint John Energy. Ahearn says the overall cost of the battery storage portion of the project, which includes engineering, construction, the purchase of materials like the Tesla battery and others, is $1.5 million.
The Megapack battery, just announced in July, is Tesla’s latest technology for industrial energy storage, so Saint John Energy is among some of the first utilities to use it. The product was chosen through a request for proposal process, for which around 10 vendors applied, Ahearn said.
The battery will be able to store 1.25 MW of energy during off peak times and then discharge it during peak times, when rates are much higher.
“Every month, NB Power sends us a bill and we get billed on what we call coincident peak. As our whole system is peaking, as we’re approaching our max megawatt for the month, we get billed based on that peak. So we try to shave some of that peak down by using some of the resources, including this battery,” Ahearn explains.
The battery is expected to arrive in December and be operational in May next year.
Saint John Energy expects to save at least $15,000 a month and also save on GHG emissions by storing power during off peak times, Ahearn said. The utility-scale battery can store enough energy to power 140 homes in the winter time, and the cost savings will be passed on to customers, he added.
“Particularly in the winter time, as the load increases, NB Power and other generation have to bring on some of their not so environmentally friendly [facilities], like Coleson Cove for example. The more we can save on our peak, the better for us, and the better for GHG,” Ahearn said.
In the future, the batteries can also be used to store renewable energy to power the grid. Because of the intermittent and weather-dependent nature of renewable sources, efficient and effective storage is key. The Tesla battery will help ensure that.
Saint John Energy is currently looking into proposals from developers to build a wind energy project in the Spruce Lake Industrial Park.
“We’re pretty excited to get this thing to work and see what we can do and who knows where it will lead us in the future. Because as you go into the future, battery storage is becoming more and more affordable as the business case is becoming better and better…we’re also looking at delving into the idea of renewables – wind energy and solar. So this would probably play a key component,” Ahearn said.
With its focus on renewables and investing in the smart grid, Saint John Energy recently hired Carl Ozkaynak to serve as Director of Smart Grid. Its Smart Energy Project also uses artificial intelligence to help optimize the system.
The new battery and other smart distributed energy resources will be integrated directly into the utility’s Integrated System Management platform, which provides proactive management and real-time two-way monitoring and control of the electrical grid.