Essential Power Support for the Kaiser Permanente Ontario Medical Center using Long Duration Batteries within a Renewable Energy Microgrid

Charge Bliss, Inc.

Recipient

Irvine, CA

Recipient Location

37th

Senate District

73rd

Assembly District

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$8,120,308

Amount Spent

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Active

Project Status

Project Update

This project is progressing well since the COVID related delays are subsiding. The site construction is over 75% complete and the 9 MWhs of Eos Batteries have been installed on site. The team is waiting for the receipt of the transformers and switch gear, which have been delayed. They are expected to arrive in the summer of 2023 and the system should be able to start initial testing in the fall of 2023.

The Issue

Integration of longer duration energy storage into renewable energy microgrids faces several hurdles. First, the value of the systems have not been demonstrated. Information is needed on the economics and environmental benefits of these systems to provide day-to-day energy and greenhouse gas reductions. Second, the control of novel energy storage systems has not been validated to ensure that they can provide long duration support to a facility, particularly during an outage.

Project Innovation

The team will demonstrate a 10-hour flow battery system combined with solar PV and a microgrid controller to support the Kaiser Permanente Ontario Medical Center. This builds on a prior EPIC project at a hospital in Richmond, CA and allows a direct performance comparison. The recipient will measure performance by energy production, round-trip efficiency, demand reduction, islanding frequency, island duration, and ancillary services. The project will show financial benefit through energy savings as well as ancillary services. Environmental benefits will emerge directly through reduction of on-site backup diesel generation and indirectly from reduction of power from the grid. Strategies to mitigate Duck Curve impacts will be demonstrated. The system will be tested for the ability to serve nearly 100% of hospital loads for 12-hours or more. The team will further develop the microgrid controller to utilize machine learning, self-diagnosis and healing, and optimize generation and storage.

Project Benefits

Deployment of a 8MWh/11-hour flow battery with a 2.2MW solar array and integrated by a microgrid controller will be connected to the hospital's critical power. The team will evaluate long-term battery performance and provide direct comparison with lithium-ion technology installed at the Richmond hospital from the prior EPIC project. The team will evaluate various scenarios of energy time-shifting, demand management, ancillary services, and facility islanding, to determine economic performance and reduction of GHG production.

Lower Costs

Affordability

The system project will produce up to 4.1 GWh/year, or 123 GWh lifetime of clean renewable energy. This translates to an estimated savings of $328,000/year or $9.84 million over the lifetime of the system. Peak load reductions are estimated to provide an additional $132,000/year and $3.95 million over the system lifetime.

Key Project Members

Project Member

Jon Harding

Subrecipients

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Charge Bliss Construction California, Inc. DBA Faraday Microgrids

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Mazzetti, Inc.

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Ghassemian Law Group, APC

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DC Energy Services

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Peak Power, LLC

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ConTech CA

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Troy Brown Consulting

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Nhu Energy, Inc

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JOSEPH E. BONADIMAN & ASSOCIATES, INC.

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Match Partners

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Charge Bliss, Inc.

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Charge Bliss Construction California, Inc. DBA Faraday Microgrids

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Ameresco, Inc.

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Contact the Team

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