Battery Energy Storage System Boosts Power Reliability in Local Community
Circuit issues can stem from a variety of things, including falling trees, wind, animals and motor vehicle accidents. When there’s an outage, Duquesne Light Company (DLC) can mechanically operate switches to transfer a section of a circuit to restore unaffected areas quickly while crews work to fix the issue on the isolated part of the circuit. However, in rural areas, these switching techniques can be limited due to the lack of circuit density in those locations, which can cause customers to be without power until the issue is fixed.
To solve this issue and efficiently restore power to rural customers who are connected to a circuit that experiences prolonged outages, DLC implemented an alternative power source, also known as a battery energy storage system (BESS), on a circuit in the Hookstown area of Beaver County. Implemented this fall, this technology allows DLC to re-energize around 100 homes from the battery for a period of time during restoration activities. After power is restored, customers’ power supply will transfer back to the grid source, and the battery will then begin to recharge for a potential future outage event.
“The goal of this project was to enhance grid modernization by implementing new technologies,” said Richard Saporito, an advanced grid solutions engineer at DLC. “The future of the grid is not entirely wired based, so we need to understand how batteries will work above the meter and how they can benefit from a reliability, resiliency and grid support perspective.”
The circuit in Hookstown was selected after closely analyzing outages and their causes in DLC’s service territory. Over the past two years, it was determined that this branch of the circuit experienced several outages due to issues on a different part of the overall circuit, not directly affecting that branch. The outage frequency, outage duration and electrical demand made this specific circuit branch in Hookstown a strong candidate for a BESS. Another contributing factor was the geography of the circuit’s location, which includes level land with proper grading, making it a good spot to store the battery.
DLC is planning to collaborate with both Chatham University and developers of The Lemington — a local apartment complex for seniors — on two future battery projects. DLC will provide the battery while customers install solar panels to complement the battery power.