Dive Brief:

• Green Charge Networks is installing a 1 MW, 2 MWh energy storage system at Pacific Union College in California.

• The college expects to save $800,000 over the 10-year life of a shared savings agreement with Green Charge by lowering how much it pays in demand charges.

• Pacific Union will use the storage system to reduce costs incurred from surges in demand by discharging the battery system to prevent spikes in energy drawn from the grid and charging the batteries during low peak periods.

Dive Insight:

Green Charge, which is 80% owned by Engie (formerly GDF Suez), takes a demand side management approach to the energy storage market.

Last October, the company teamed up with Pacific Gas and Electric to deliver grid services in northern and central California from distributed energy storage.

Under the agreement Green Charge is developing a fleet of energy storage systems in San Jose to evaluate how storage can support the grid when electric demand is high.

Green Charge used that same cost savings model last March with the installation of 7.4 MWh of storage devices at 14 sites in a San Diego school district.

Green Charge's agreement with Pacific Union could reap the college as much as $800,000 in shared savings. The college expects that the storage system will help it improve its performance in Pacific Gas and Electric’s demand response programs.

"While our main motivation for installing energy storage is saving money through peak demand shaving, we are pleased that energy storage is a way to enhance the reliability and performance of our power supply,” Dale Withers, facilities director at Pacific Union College, said in a statement. “We look forward to both benefits as a result of our work with Green Charge.”