Replaced by a modern grid-scale energy storage system, the last coal power plant in Hawaii is now a thing of the past. Kapolei Energy Storage (KES), located on the southwest coast of Oʻahu near Honolulu, has been hailed as a “postcard from the future”. This marks the first instance of a battery being used by a major grid operator to balance the energy system.
Unlike fossil fuel-powered plants that take several minutes to start up, KES responds “in the blink of an eye”, or in 250 milliseconds. It is also capable of delivering 185 megawatts of power and storing 565 megawatt-hours, making it an ideal “braking fluid” for the electrical grid.
Hawaii has ambitious plans for decarbonization, aiming to achieve 100% clean energy by 2045. The state already leads the US in per capita solar energy consumption. However, batteries are essential for balancing the intermittent supply of solar energy with constant demand.
Previously, the Hawaiian electric provider, Hawaiian Electric, had to regularly curtail large amounts of electricity generated from solar and wind sources to maintain grid stability. Now, the KES battery will reduce those curtailments by 69% in its early years of operation, allowing for greater utilization of renewable energy sources and further development of distributed energy, such as rooftop solar installations.
Plus Power, the project owner, plans to open seven large battery storage power plants in Arizona and Texas by June of this year. The total capacity of these plants is 1,325 megawatts/3,500 megawatt-hours. This is a step in the right direction for the future of energy and decarbonization in Hawaii.
Suggested links:
– hawaiianelectric.com – Official website of Hawaiian Electric, the electric utility provider in Hawaii.
– pluspower.com – Website of Plus Power, the owner of the battery storage power plant project.
The source of the article is from the blog combopop.com.br