AES Energy Storage LLC has received a conditional commitment for a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for $17.1 million. The loan guarantee would support the construction of a 20 MW energy-storage system using advanced lithium-ion batteries. The AES project, located in Johnson City, N.Y., is designed to help provide a more stable and efficient electrical grid for the state's high-voltage transmission network.
‘Effective energy-storage systems are crucial to harnessing the power of renewable energy and getting it onto the grid,’ says Steven Chu, secretary of the DOE. ‘Projects like these are helping us to meet the president's goal of doubling our renewable energy generating capacity by 2012.’
The AES project eliminates the need to burn fossil fuels and instead uses battery technology and new software that will provide the same regulation at a lower price. This advanced frequency-regulation capability will allow renewable electricity generation to play a larger role in New York's transmission network, according to the DOE.
The AES project will include advanced lithium-ion battery cells from A123System Inc., a supplier of lithium-ion batteries. The contained battery and related electrical systems are assembled, tested and validated in an A123 manufacturing facility in Hopkinton, Mass.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Energy
