Wellesley and visiting officials celebrated the cutover of the Municipal Light Plant’s new battery energy storage system (BESS) on Thursday, Nov. 7, by flipping the switch on the strategic setup.
In October, we previewed the launch of the BESS (“Wellesley MLP to celebrate giant battery storage system”).
Wellesley has partnered with a non-profit outfit founded by Joseph P. Kennedy II called Citizens Energy Corp. (his son, Joe Kennedy II, now leads the outfit). Citizens is footing the upfront bill for the BESS and its operations. The setup includes a six-pack of lithium ion battery storage systems and complementary inverter containers. The gear is located on nearly 4 acres of MLP property on Municipal Way (off Rte. 9 west) adjacent to its main building.
BESS is a nearly 5 megawatt system designed to help reduce the town’s peak electricity usage—a calculation that the operator of New England’s electrical grid uses to determine its capacity charge to customers like the town of Wellesley. The idea is that Wellesley would rely on battery power during the hottest of hottest periods of summer to reduce its use of the grid during that time, and thus lessen the amount it will be charged by ISO New England.
The system is expected to save the MLP $8 million over 20 years, and that could pay off for customers.
Leave a Reply