Author: Robert Tecpoyotl, age 13. Printed with the permission of the Simpson Street Free Press.
Climate change is a continuing issue that impacts everybody. Scientists have looked at ways in which we can slow the process of climate change. One of these options includes energy powered by solar panels.
The largest battery currently deployed on the nation's power grid could possibly power 67,000 homes, stated a Wisconsin Public Service report.
Invenergy LLC is a leading private held, global developer and sustainable energy solutions operator. It has installed 3.15 megawatt batteries in West Virginia and Illinois, portraying most of the advanced storage portfolio capacity in the companies. In March, Invenergy LLC presented a design arrangement for a 300 megawatt sun-powered farm with a 50 megawatt battery segment.
Invenergy LLC is establishing a solar farm in Iowa County and is planning on developing another solar farm in Kenosha County. This solar farm could feature the first utility scale battery storage in Wisconsin.
The megawatt batteries allows for on demand-power, similar to traditional fossil fuel generators, from renewable energy sources such as wind and solar. They can help to stabilize the grid and provide reserve battery power. Renewable energy sources won't overtake fossil fuels, but with the current state grants and rebates, they could grow, in short order, to generate 20 or more percent of our states electrical power.
Invenergy submitted a permit application to the public service commission in April. Company spokesperson ,Beth Conley, said the farm in the town of Paris is being proposed as a developer-owned project, but the company is communicating with potential utility buyers.
Invenergy says around 146 projects have been set up across four continents. They create long-lasting partnerships with a wide variety of utilities, finance institutions, business and industrial enterprises.
“With batteries, it can compete in the marketplace in multiple ways,” said Andy Olsen, a senior policy advocate with the Environment Law & Policy Center in Madison. “Not only on the power but when we get the power, which matters quite a bit.”
A report on the situation has been leaked and has stated that construction by Invenergy LLC would begin this fall and be completed by mid-2021. According to engineering study the battery storage facility would occupy approximately 12,000 square feet, next to the transformer and inverter lines, and would generate up to 146,000 megawatt hours of energy annually. That's the power consumption of about 16,000 typical households.
According to the engineering plans, a solar farm in Paris would cover approximately 1,400 acres along the Racine County route and could be aligned to storage facilities that would supply between 50 and 200 megawatt hours of electricity in Wisconsin.
[Source: madison.com]