Microgrids

ESS supplies Battery Storage for Solar Microgrid at Pennsylvania Industrial Recycling center

Aug. 29, 2022

The microgrid includes 115-kW solar power with the ESS Energy Warehouse system and CE+T inverters. TerraSol Energies developed the microgrid which will reduce peak demand and provide back-up power at the Sycamore International recycling facility

Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor

Utility-scale iron-flow battery manufacturer ESS has completed its energy storage portion of a microgrid project at an industrial recycling plant in Pennsylvania.

TerraSol Energies developed the microgrid which will reduce peak electricity demand and provide back-up power at the Sycamore International recycling facility in West Grove. The microgrid includes a 115-kW solar power array with the ESS Energy Warehouse system and CE+T inverters.

“Through collaboration with TerraSol, we identified ESS’ sustainable, American made energy storage technology as the best solution on the market to achieve our climate and business operations goals,” Steve Figgatt, Sycamore International CEO, said during the company’s ribbon-cutting event which included local community leaders. “This solar and energy storage microgrid delivers backup power when needed to keep our facility fully operational, has a very reasonable return on the capital investment through both electricity production and peak load shaving, and enables our facility to operate comfortably with a net zero carbon footprint.”

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The ESS iron-flow batteries offer longer duration energy storage capacity than the lithium-ion components comprising much of current utility-scale battery storage. Earlier this year, Pacific Northwest utility Portland General Electric selected ESS to provide 3-MWh of iron-flow battery capacity in a pilot project to demonstrate alternatives to lithium-ion.

Last year, San Diego Gas & Electric contracted U.S.-based ESS and its iron flow batteries to join with the solar arrays in the microgrid being built in the Cameron Corners community. The Cameron Corners Microgrid is part of SDG&E’s 2020 Wildfire Mitigation Program.

Iron flow battery technology reportedly can discharge as 10 hours at a time, giving them longer duration than lithium-ion, for instance. They are considered non-flammable with the electrolyte fluid stored in external storage tanks.

Sycamore International procures and recycles large volumes of used technology assets including laptops or larger data equipment.

Some energy industry forecasts anticipate the demand and revenue in the micogrid sector could double in the next five years. A report by Mordor Intelligence predicts that microgrid revenue could reach $25 billion by 2027.

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(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).

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About the Author

Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World.

EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.