SOLAR INSIGHTS / CASE STUDIES

Stressed Grid Substations

Long-duration grid substation storage with 24/7 dispatchability

by 247Solar Media | Sep 21, 2022 | CASE STUDIES

Extreme weather, variable PV and wind, and aging infrastructure are straining grids. Stressed substations, particularly those at the grid’s edge, present especially difficult and costly challenges. At times, they can be overwhelmed by too much power on the grid, e.g., from too much PV or wind. At other times aging infrastructure coupled with the often widely variable demand they serve outstrips a substation’s ability to provide reliable electricity.

OUR SOLUTION

HeatStorE™: a hybrid long-duration battery and spinning reserve

247Solar’s HeatStorE™ operates almost exactly like electric batteries but also provides spinning reserves at substation scale. HeatStorE stores excess electricity from the grid or renewables as heat and converts that heat to electricity on demand for 9 hours or more on a single charge. As a spinning reserve, HeatStorE burns a local fuel to produce power whenever needed even when storage is depleted.

Benefits include:

Increased grid reliability and reduced costs
24/7 fully-dispatchable standby power
Spinning reserves to meet fluctuating demand
Load shifting of 8 hours or more
Increased substation resiliency

EXAMPLE

A stressed edge-of-grid substation in Australia faces a dilemma serving a remote community. A conventional upgrade will be too costly.

Grid owners must either cut the connection and spend a considerable amount on PV, wind, batteries, gensets, and fuel to enable the community to generate its own power and achieve self-sufficiency or
Grid owners can add HeatStorE to the substation and continue serving the community.