Potomac Edison, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy, and Convergent Energy and Power (Convergent), a provider of energy storage solutions in North America, have announced completion of a 1.75 MW / 8.4 MWh BESS in Little Orleans, Maryland, to enhance grid reliability of over 600 Potomac Edison customers.
While the battery energy storage system integrator was ELM MicroGrid, Lucent/Gillespie Electric served as the system general contractor.
The system, designed, constructed, and operated by Convergent, will support Potomac Edison customers served by a line in a rural part of Allegany and Washington counties, where tree-related outages occur frequently during severe weather. Potomac Edison will use the battery to provide backup power to customers on the line, reducing the duration of outages, as crews repair and restore services.
The battery is expected to provide backup power for around five hours to customers on the circuit once fully charged. Moreover, Potomac Edison will be able to reserve the battery on days presenting a higher risk of outages in the area based on predicted weather forecasts.
Convergent’s system with Potomac Edison is known as a non-wires alternative, or NWA, which removes or defers the need to construct or upgrade components of a distribution and/or transmission system.
The system was developed in response to the state's Energy Storage Pilot Program, which was established in 2019 to examine new technologies expected to have a transformative impact on electric distribution systems. Through a competitive bidding process, Potomac Edison selected Convergent to build and operate the system in a location where it will be able to provide reliability benefits to its customers and supplement electric supply on high-demand days.
