Battery Storage Will Offer Grid Support as Puerto Rico Recovers

Battery storage in the Dominican Republic helped that island grid survive a hurricane. Puerto Rico was a different story.

By 31 December a half-dozen 1-megawatt lithium-ion batteries could be in place, helping to support Puerto Rico’s electric power grid, which was almost entirely destroyed by Hurricane Maria.

Independent power producer AES is working with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to site and deploy the batteries.  Most likely, says Chris Shelton, chief technology officer of the Virginia-based company, the batteries—which AES is donating—will support the still-fragile grid by enhancing both power quality and grid stability.

“We are not looking for commercial applications,” Shelton says.  “We are focused on putting them to work to help.”

Storage batteries are gaining credibility as a reliable and rapidly deployable technology.  A pair of crises thousands of miles apart illustrates how the technology can bolster grids when they face difficult challenges.

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