Nevada utility NV Energy’s largest battery energy storage system sits on a former coal-fired power plant site and will save customers a lot of money.
Swiss-US battery energy storage specialist Energy Vault (NYSE: NRGV) built the 220 MW/440 MWh grid-tied Reid Gardner Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Moapa, Nevada, 50 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Energy Vault will maintain the system.
The new BESS is on the site of the former 557-megawatt (MW) coal-fired Reid Gardner Generating Station, which was demolished in 2019.
It’s a two-hour energy storage system that stores and dispatches excess wind and solar power. It’s charged and discharged daily and dispatches stored renewable energy at peak consumption hours to help meet demand.
NV Energy CEO Dough Cannon explained to local TV network KTNV:
The hours that [NV Energy] really get concerned about are from about 5 pm to 9 pm. Because what happens, at that point, is the solar energy has really started to ramp off as the sun’s going down. And so, we have often had to go out to the market, the energy market, and buy energy to meet the needs between 5 pm and 9 pm.
Over the last couple of years, on average, we’ve paid $250 a unit of energy during those hours. We look at a project like this, and this can deliver energy for closer to $100 an hour a unit of energy.
Top comment by Luis Alejandro Masanti
Both… the closed coal plant… and the storage plant… need to be connected to the grid.
If they put the storage in another place… they would need to build a new connection to the grid.
Just ‘logical’ place.
The Inflation Reduction Act covered 40% of the project’s $250 million cost. Cannon told KTNV that thanks to the new BESS, the utility’s customers would see a 15-20% reduction in their bills by the end of 2024.
Read more: US, other G7 countries to phase out coal by early 2030s
If you live in an area that has frequent natural disaster events, and are interested in making your home more resilient to power outages, consider going solar and adding a battery storage system. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. They have hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisers to help you every step of the way. Get started here. –ad*
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments