Watertown, Mass.-based A123Systems, a developer and manufacturer of advanced nanophosphate lithium-ion batteries and battery systems, has delivered and installed its first hybrid ancillary power units (H-APU) with AES Energy Storage LLC, a subsidiary of AES Corp.
The H-APU is designed to create another way for AES' existing facilities to meet the power industry's need for capacity by supplying power plant reserve requirements and other ancillary services that enable the increasing use of renewable energy sources.
A123 is under contract to provide multiple H-APUs this year and in 2009 for use in grid stabilization applications in several AES facilities across the world. The initial unit, installed at one of AES's Southern California power plants, is capable of delivering 2 MW of power at close to 90% efficiency.
‘This technology gives independent system operators a powerful new tool to balance varying load with the increasingly varying supply created by renewable sources,’ says Chris Shelton, president of AES Energy Storage LLC.
A123's H-APU can absorb energy from the grid during times when the frequency or voltage is too high and inject that energy back to the grid when it is too low. A123's H-APU is expected to allow greater use of variable sources of energy, such as wind and solar, by rapidly absorbing or injecting energy as these sources vary.
The H-APU is expected to provide variable service much faster than existing power plants, responding in seconds rather than minutes. And, because it is recycling energy already in the system, it will provide these services without unnecessary emissions, according to the company.
SOURCE: A123 Systems
