Consumers Energy has announced the operation of a new large-scale battery storage system on the campus of Western Michigan University.
The 1 MW battery’s output is about the amount of electricity used by approximately 1,000 residential electric customers in an hour, says Consumers Energy.
On Monday, Ed Montgomery, the university’s president, joined local legislators, county commissioners and Consumers Energy employees who worked on the project at a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Western’s campus.
“Advances in battery storage technology have now reached the scale that they power entire communities on demand,” says Tim Sparks, Consumers Energy’s vice president of electric grid integration. “Our clean energy plan calls for more solar and wind electric generation facilities that will depend on battery storage to be dependable sources of energy for our customers for when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun shining. The Parkview Battery Project begins the next groundbreaking chapter in the story about how clean and reliable energy reaches Consumers Energy customers.”
The site was selected through a statewide search in consultation with Michigan State University (MSU). Over the next year, Consumers Energy and MSU consultants will study data generated at the new battery facility to better the potential for battery storage use around the state. Western Michigan University engineering students will also have opportunities to participate in partnerships with Consumers Energy.
