News

Alevo Ships First GridBank for Frequency Regulation

January 18, 2017 by Jeff Shepard

Alevo Group announced that its first GridBank™ storage unit has been cleared for shipping and installation after completing an extensive factory acceptance testing (FAT) process at Parker Hannifin's Energy Grid-Tie Division. Alevo and Parker Hannifin have collectively conducted a series of validation and application tests on the 2MW/1MWh unit to verify the GridBank's performance based on safety, power, thermal stability, communications, response rates and ability to deliver specific applications.

“We have been testing the GridBank in conjunction with Alevo since August and are satisfied the unit operates as per its design intent,” explained Jim Hoelscher, General Manager of Parker Hannifin’s Energy Grid Tie Division in Charlotte. “Parker has conducted a series of robust tests as part of a jointly developed factory acceptance test program and initial results confirm the Alevo GridBank capabilities, including its high-power among other attributes. We are excited to see the field performance and proud to have played a key role in this historic milestone.”

The unit will be utilized primarily for frequency regulation and charging/discharging cycles in durations of less than an hour. GridBanks are well suited to power applications such as these due to its proprietary and patented inorganic electrolyte, Alevolyte™ — which demonstrates no degradation in its power capability after thousands of full battery cycles.

Due to its long cycle life, while continuing to provide its nameplate power output, the Alevo GridBank’s projected 20-year duty cycle offers a grid asset that has the lowest total cost of ownership of any storage technology, an important economic factor to consider in application specific Levelized Cost of Storage (LCOS) calculations. LCOS is calculated as the net cost to install and maintain an energy storage system, divided by its expected life-time energy throughput.

Speaking about the system, which will be installed mid-January and commissioned later in the month, Michael S. Spiker, Director of Utilities for the City of Hagerstown, said, “The Hagerstown Light Department is proud to welcome the installation of the first Alevo GridBank. We look forward to the successful operation of this unique storage technology.”

To augment the installation of the GridBank, Alevo Analytics, the intelligence and analytics arm of Alevo Group, will provide its full suite of GridMaestro™ software and run other real-time analytics as well to verify the GridBank’s performance on the grid.

“We are excited to get our first GridBank in the field with many more to follow,” said Christopher Christiansen, President of Alevo Energy. “We can now demonstrate what makes a GridBank’s safety and performance characteristic unique in the market. With our non-flammability and full range of usable capacity, we are also capable of following PJM’s enhanced Reg D signal accurately.”