Dive Brief:
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Genbright and Ice Energy have teamed up for an energy storage project on Massachusetts' Nantucket Island aimed at supplanting the need for new undersea transmission.
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The project, awarded by the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources, will provide behind-the-meter storage for 200 residential installations.
- The project calls for Genbright to perform real-time dispatch of the Ice Energy’s technology to deliver over 1 MW of peak demand reduction on the island.
Dive Insight:
The installations, which are slated to begin this summer, are tasked with demonstrating a non-wires alternative to defer the need for a third undersea cable to Nantucket at a cost of between $75 million and $100 million.
The storage systems, which would cost about $3 million, would replace standard residential air conditioning units.
Ice Energy’s Ice Bear technology fits on traditional air conditioners and freezes water into ice at night when demand for power is low. During the day, the stored ice is used to provide air conditioning at peak hours, drawing down customer power demand.
The Nantucket contract is the latest in a string of projects for the thermal storage company. In 2014, Ice Energy made headlines with a 26.5 MW contract with Southern California Edison and more recently signed a 1 MW contract with the Southern California Public Power Authority.
“Local participants will enjoy increased comfort as well as savings on their energy bills … and defer the need for traditional contingency support, such as back-up diesel generation and a costly third undersea cable,” Lauren Sinatra, energy project and outreach coordinator for Nantucket, said in a statement.
