![]() “Very importantly, we then began to consider how to enter the PJM new service interconnection request process,” Bloom said. ![]() Pepco's Bus Depot Project, a third-party owned and operated 1 MW battery storage system at an electric bus depot in Silver SpringĭPL's Ocean City Project, a utility-owned and operated 1 MW battery storage system sited at a residential beachfront community on a barrier islandĭPL's Elk Neck Project, a third-party owned and operated 0.5 MW VPP on a peninsula in Chesapeake Bay Pepco's National Harbor Project, a utility-owned, third-party operated 1 MW battery storage system at National Harbor The awarded projects-some expected to become operational as early as February 2022-include:īGE's BESS at Fairhaven Project, a utility-owned 2.5 MW lithium-ion battery system sited at the Fairhaven substation in Anne Arundel CountyīGE's Chesapeake Beach Project, a third-party owned 1 MW lithium-ion battery energy storage system at Chesapeake Beach “We were anxious to get a lot of the work underway to then complete contracts with the vendors, begin permitting, and then the actual construction of these projects.” “We were very excited about that,” Bloom said. The state’s PSC accepted six proposals submitted by BGE, DPL, and Pepco, with winning bids coming from Ameresco, Hitachi Power Group, Sunverge, MESA Veterans Power, A.F. We had a lot of questions ourselves to make sure that we were seeking a project that was going to meet our needs, as well as having it function and being able to optimize the value in the PJM wholesale market.” ![]() “This was going to be the first time for the utilities to engage in the PJM market this way with an energy storage resource. “The experience through the RFP was very informative for all the parties involved, both for the utilities and the vendors,” Bloom said. In early 2020, joint Exelon utilities BGE, Delmarva Power & Light (DPL) and Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco), opened up an RFP process for proposals to align with the four models, with 17 vendors submitting 73 bids for six projects. That dual purpose is critical and really guided the utilities throughout this process.” But the dual purpose aspect also contemplated the value added from participating in the PJM wholesale markets. “And that’s frankly where the vast majority of the value comes from for these projects- to support the cost- benefit analysis. “Even more importantly, the projects should all have dual purposes and the primary purpose for these projects is focused on distribution grid reliability,” Bloom said. Other suggested models would allow for customer or third-party-owned energy storage. The four different project models include a Utility-Only, Third-Party, Third-Party Ownership, and a Virtual Power Plant. “One of the more important aspects of the legislation was that at least one of the projects offered should be owned by the utilities, but some could not be owned by the utilities, so we had to consider various models,” said David Bloom, Manager of Energy Acquisition at Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE), at a recent roundtable hosted by the Clean Energy Group. The goal of the legislation was to allow state regulators to evaluate the best use of energy storage, and to identify the regulatory reforms and market incentives necessary to facilitate the future deployment of storage across the state. The Energy Storage Pilot Project Act required the Maryland Public Service Commission to establish an energy storage pilot program, with each state IOU directed to solicit offers to develop at least two different models for energy storage projects capped at a cumulative capacity of 10 MW. Maryland has been moving towards a cleaner, more resilient power grid, increasingly incorporating distributed energy resources like solar and storage and spurred on by the state’s robust Renewable Portfolio Standard.Īs part of this overarching imperative, Maryland’s four investor-owned utilities (IOU) last year solicited proposals for an energy storage pilot program following the passage of energy storage legislation in 2019.
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