Dominican Republic’s First Energy Storage Arrays Help Island’s Grid to Prevent Blackouts
October 17 2017 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
AES Dominicana’s new Advancion arrays brought
online and help keep grid stable during September hurricanes
AES Dominicana announced that it brought online 20 megawatts
(MW) of new battery-based energy storage arrays at two sites in the
Dominican Republic, which played a key role in maintaining grid
reliability in September when Hurricanes Irma and Maria struck the
island. The two 10 MW arrays, which were supplied by AES Energy
Storage, are the first of their kind in Central America and the
Caribbean. Located on sites in the Santo Domingo region, both
arrays are providing critical grid reliability services for the
island by improving the efficiency and contributing to the
stability of the Dominican Republic’s interconnected national
electricity system (SENI).
“We are very excited about developing these energy solutions for
the benefit of the Dominican Republic, saving millions of dollars
in state funds, which can be redirected to more needed areas such
as public health, education and security,” said Edwin De Los
Santos, President of AES Dominicana.
AES Dominicana is using its Andres and Los Mina DPP Advancion
energy storage arrays to provide fast, accurate frequency control
to the Dominican grid, balancing second-to-second variations
between electricity consumed and produced. By adding energy storage
instead of utilizing existing thermal power plants to maintain
frequency, the Dominican grid operator can enable the power plants
on the island to run at their most efficient generating level while
the battery systems absorb and discharge energy on the grid as
needed. AES Dominicana’s 20 MW of energy storage is providing
fast-response, critical reliability services that would otherwise
be performed by a traditional thermal power plant three times the
size.
In September 2017, the Dominican grid operator put the two
energy storage arrays to a critical test: asking AES Dominicana to
keep them online and operational to ensure grid reliability as two
hurricanes, Irma and Maria, each approached the island. Both energy
storage arrays performed more than double the amount of work during
the storms as normal, helping keep the Dominican grid operating
during category 3 and 4 hurricane conditions, even as nearly 40 and
55 percent of the island’s power plants were forced offline during
Hurricanes Irma and Maria, respectively.
“AES Dominicana’s energy storage arrays enhanced the Dominican
grid during a most trying time, helping keep vital power resources
online,” said John Zahurancik, President of AES Energy Storage.
“Not only does energy storage improve reliability of the grid on a
daily basis, this experience demonstrates how it can add to overall
resilience under extreme conditions.”
From supplying day-to-day balancing services and flexible
peaking capacity to making island grids more resilient in the face
of extreme weather events, advanced energy storage can provide
island utilities with the critical and cost-effective flexible
resource they need to provide reliable power to their
communities.
To learn more about how energy storage can support grid
resilience, download the case study with real-time data from
Hurricane Irma at
http://aesenergystorage.com/island-resilience.
About AES Energy Storage
AES Energy Storage is a leader in commercial energy storage
solutions, which improve flexibility and reliability of the power
system, and provide customers with a complete alternative to
traditional peaking power plants. AES Energy Storage introduced the
first grid-scale advanced battery-based energy storage solution in
commercial operations in 2008 and operates the largest global fleet
of battery-based storage assets in service today, with 478 MW of
energy storage projects in operation, construction, or in late
stage development in seven countries. The company’s Advancion® 4
energy storage solution is available for sale to leading utilities,
power markets, and independent power producers, and AES Energy
Storage and its partners can manage installations from concept to
operation with a market-proven solution that integrates best in
class battery and power conversion technologies. To learn more,
please visit www.aesenergystorage.com or @aes_es on Twitter.
The AES Corporation and Siemens AG announced in July 2017 an
agreement to form Fluence, a new global energy storage technology
and services company. Fluence will operate independently of its
parent companies, combining the robust capabilities and expertise
of both AES’ subsidiary, AES Energy Storage, and Siemens’
battery-based energy storage solutions group under its Energy
Management division. The transaction is expected to close in the
fourth quarter of calendar year 2017, subject to regulatory and
other approvals.
About The AES Corporation
The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) is a Fortune 200 global power
company. We provide affordable, sustainable energy to 17 countries
through our diverse portfolio of distribution businesses as well as
thermal and renewable generation facilities. Our workforce of
19,000 people is committed to operational excellence and meeting
the world’s changing power needs. Our 2016 revenues were $14
billion and we own and manage $36 billion in total assets. To learn
more, please visit www.aes.com. Follow AES on Twitter
@TheAESCorp.
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For AES DominicanaSteven Goldman,
703-682-1491steven.goldman@aes.com
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