Georgia Power, a US utility, plans to install and manage the state’s first standalone battery storage system on the transmission grid. The Georgia Public Service Commission has approved plans for the Mossy Branch Battery Facility. The 65 MW /260 MWh grid-charging battery system will be built on 2.5 acres in Talbot County near Columbus, Georgia. It will be connected to Georgia’s Integrated Transmission System and will be part of a bigger future 80-MW battery energy storage portfolio that Georgia Power has already approved in its 2019 integrated resource project.
The Mossy Branch Battery Facility will be developed as a stand-alone system that will connect to and charge directly from the electric transmission grid, rather than relying on solar or wind power. Wärtsilä has been chosen by Georgia Power to offer project’s engineering, procurement, and construction services. As per a company statement, Mossy Branch will be used by the utility to analyse the real-time performance and economics of the battery storage system, as well as optimise maintenance techniques on such projects.
REGlobal’s Views: Energy storage projects are taking centerstage in clean energy deployment in United States as the country’s moves ahead to integrate more robust and advanced systems into the grid. The future grids have to be smarter and stable in order to integrate the vast volumes of distributed energy as well as electric vehicles, and energy storage can act as a key enabler to achieve this.
