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Virginia's First Utility-Scale Battery Storage Project
Dominion Energy’s 12-megawatt battery pilot project at our Scott Solar generation facility — the first utility-scale project of its kind in Virginia — is serving the grid today.
The company has two other battery storage pilot projects in its portfolio – a 2-megawatt battery in New Kent County that was commissioned in late February and a 2-megawatt battery in Hanover County that is scheduled to become operational later this year. Energy storage is critical to providing continued reliability for our customers as we expand our renewable portfolio. Battery storage has made significant strides in recent years, in both efficiency and cost. These pilot projects will enable Dominion Energy to better understand how best to deploy batteries to integrate renewables and provide grid reliability.
We operate one of the largest solar generation fleets in the United States among investor-owned utilities, and our renewable-energy portfolio continues to grow. These advanced commercial batteries will let us store energy and serve our customers with renewable generation even when the sun isn’t shining.
In addition to these three pilot projects, Dominion Energy has received regulatory approval from the Virginia SCC for the 20-megawatt Dry Bridge storage in Chesterfield County and 50 megawatts of storage at Dulles International Airport in Loudoun County.
Energy storage is critical to providing continued reliability for our customers as we expand our renewable portfolio. Battery storage has made significant strides in recent years, in both efficiency and cost. We are excited to pilot 16 megawatts of battery storage in Virginia and these projects will enable Dominion Energy to better understand how best to deploy batteries to integrate renewables and provide grid reliability.
We operate one of the largest solar portfolios among investor-owned utilities in the United States, and our renewable energy portfolio continues to grow. These advanced commercial batteries will let us store energy and serve our customers with renewable generation even when the sun isn’t shining.
There are pros and cons to each type of energy storage. Utility-scale battery storage is still an emerging technology, whereas pumped hydro storage is proven to work. Battery storage can ramp up to full power within seconds, but can supply that power for less time, when compared to pumped storage. Typically for grid applications, energy batteries are sized up to four hours. Pumped storage, for example, can provide more energy over a longer period of time. As to cost and construction, pumped hydro is very capital intensive and takes significantly longer to build.
The batteries in this pilot can store 56 MWh of energy.
The safety of our employees and customers is our top priority. As with any lithium-ion battery, you are dealing with large amounts of stored energy in a small place, and fire is a danger associated with them. We have taken precautions with regards to the batteries’ physical placement to minimize hazards to our customers, their property and our employees. The industry continues to study this technology to improve the batteries’ safety characteristics.
These projects will allow us to analyze the use of energy storage for grid stability support as an alternative to traditional grid upgrades. These pilot projects will enable Dominion Energy to better understand how best to deploy and operate batteries to help overcome the inherent fluctuation on wind and solar generation sources.
The three proposed Central Virginia-based lithium-ion projects will cost approximately $33 million to construct. The experimental pilots would last five years once operational in Quarter 1, 2022.
The company is committed to providing our customers with a reliable, affordable and diverse supply of energy. The Grid Transformation & Security Act of 2018 enabled 30MW of battery storage generation to be developed as a pilot project. The pilot will allow us to study this emerging technology and understand how it fits into Virginia’s energy future. As the company continues to forge ahead as an industry leader in renewable energy, various storage technology will be needed to ensure a balanced and reliable energy grid.
Not at this time. Different kinds of generation are utilized depending on the magnitude of the demand.
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