Hawaii Electric Power Energy Storage System Wins Winning Award

Where is plus power storing energy?

Plus Power announced it has begun operating its Kapolei Energy Storage facility on Oahu, Hawaii, the most advanced grid-scale battery energy storage system in the world, helping transition the state’s electric power from coal and oil to solar and wind.

What makes Kapolei the most advanced battery energy storage facility?

Plus Power located the project near a substation connected to three other power plants so the battery “can be AAA to jump-start those other plants,” Keefe said. The combination of all these abilities in one site — capacity, grid services, black start — leads Keefe to call Kapolei “the most advanced battery energy storage facility on the planet.”

Will Hawaiian Electric's new battery plant save customers money?

According to Hawaiian Electric, the project will save customers money. The Hawaiian Electric filing for KES estimated it will reduce electric bills by an average of $0.28 per month over a 20-year contract life. The battery plant's specifications include:

Why did Hawaiian Electric join the grid?

Even then, it has joined the grid before several of the other large solar and battery projects slated to replace the coal plant’s production with clean power. Grid batteries operate in a fundamentally different way than coal plants, so Hawaiian Electric and Plus Power crafted a new framework to replace what needed to be replaced.

Does Hawaiian Electric have black-start capability?

The utility also requested “black-start capability.” If a disaster, like a cyclone or earthquake, knocks out the grid completely, Hawaiian Electric needs a power source to restart it. The Kapolei batteries are programmed to hold some energy in reserve for that purpose.

How much power does Kes add to the Hawaiian electric grid?

The KES project adds 135 MW/540 MWh to the Hawaiian Electric grid, with an additional 50 MW/25 MWh of additional “fast frequency response” to support grid stability. The advanced battery has “virtual inertia” to replicate the power-smoothing function of a conventional spinning turbine.