Storage to play key role in Hawaii grid reliability as coal plant nears retirement, experts say

Dive Temporary:

• Each utility-scale power storage and distributed storage sources will play a key function in serving to Hawaii preserve the reliability of its grid because it prepares to shutter a 180 MW coal plant on the island of Oahu, specialists mentioned on the Hawaii Power Convention on Tuesday.
• “We actually must make the most of all of it, particularly to fulfill our 100% decarbonization objectives,” Scott Schalich, market lead at power storage firm Plus Energy, mentioned on the convention. “I feel each present distinctive advantages to the grid,” he added.
• The AES-owned coal plant at present meets 15% of electrical energy demand on the island however is slated to retire later this 12 months. Hawaiian Electrical is trying to change it with renewable and storage sources, however regulators have raised considerations that delays to these tasks might pose a risk to grid reliability.

Dive Perception:

Final February, the Hawaii Public Utilities Fee opened a docket to take a more in-depth take a look at Hawaiian Electrical’s plan to retire the Oahu plant, in addition to the renewable tasks meant to exchange it. One in every of their considerations is that with out sufficient planning, the plant might need to get replaced with oil-fired era. 

Hawaiian Electrical can be taking a look at closing down different fossil gas vegetation, together with the 38 MW oil-fired Kahului plant by 2024, in addition to two models of a Waiau oil plant totaling 49 MW. 

Final June, the fee permitted an emergency demand response program aimed toward mitigating attainable useful resource shortfalls after the coal plant’s deliberate retirement. The trouble included a scheduled dispatch program, in addition to increasing a pre-existing quick demand response initiative. The as much as 50 MW scheduled dispatch program was designed to be open to prospects which have distributed power sources, and are ready so as to add new battery storage capability to it. Prospects are dedicated to this system for 10 years, and can obtain upfront incentives. 

Completely different sorts of storage applied sciences will play a task in bolstering reliability and resiliency, Schalich mentioned on the convention. 

Plus Energy is the developer of the Kapolei Power Storage challenge, a 185 MW/565 MWh facility that’s at present beneath improvement on Oahu. The challenge, earlier scheduled to come back on-line in the summertime of 2022, was one a part of Hawaiian Electrical’s plan to make sure grid reliability after the retirement of the AES coal plant. It’s at present anticipated to come back on-line March 10, 2023, Hawaiian Electrical spokesperson Shannon Tangonan mentioned in an electronic mail.

“Given provide chain points and different challenges builders are dealing with, we’re happy with the Kapolei Power Storage challenge’s progress. Now we have different solar-plus-battery storage tasks coming on-line earlier than KES that may present extra capability and reliability following the retirement of the coal plant in September,” she added. 

“KES is a extremely giant challenge at scale that’s utterly, totally dispatchable,” which can assist Hawaiian Electrical with load shifting in addition to quick frequency response, amongst different capabilities, in line with Schalich. 

Hawaii wants each utility-scale and distributed storage, Daniel Crotzer, CEO of power storage controls platform Fractal EMS, agreed. In some instances, the area doesn’t have transmission paths to deliver renewable sources into areas experiencing a whole lot of load, “so it will be good should you had some extra native, distributed renewable sources,” he mentioned. 

On the similar time, distributed power sources do current a layer of complexity, mentioned Jon Fortune, vp of grid providers market improvement at Swell Power. 

“[T]hey’re usually doing extra than simply serving the grid – they’re serving buyer wants,” he mentioned, including that not like stationary storage methods, EVs, for instance, aren’t plugged in on a regular basis and accessible to function a grid useful resource. 

However distributed storage does current a chance when scaled up, corresponding to this system on Oahu, Fortune famous.