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Renewable energy project owner and developer Ventura Energy is working on a five-site portfolio of standalone energy storage projects, deployed at critical water facilities, that will participate in the wholesale energy markets and provide grid support. They are able to do this by utilizing the services of Leap, a provider of energy market access for distributed energy resources, and Energy Toolbase‘s Acumen EMS controls software.
The portfolio is made up of five sites, totaling 3.7 (MWh) utilizing Tesla Powerpack energy storage systems. Ventura’s innovative project-financing model uses projected grid services revenues to deliver more cost-effective backup power to its customers.
“We are excited to get these projects energized, prove out this model, and then repeat this performance-based revenue share structure on future projects,” said Clara Nagy McBane, the Founder and Owner of Ventura Energy.
How does this work? The Ventura Energy portfolio in Southern California will leverage Acumen EMS and Leap’s platform to bid its price-responsive load into CAISO, delivering zero-carbon energy when dispatched and providing much-needed Resource Adequacy to the utility.
The projects will enroll and make nominations into California’s Demand Response Auction Mechanism (DRAM) program, which is a pay-as-bid auction program that aims to bolster grid stability by compensating demand-side resources, including energy storage systems, to curtail energy when the grid is strained.
The partnership between Energy Toolbase, Ventura Energy, and Leap will enable all parties to maximize revenue and support for the grid through a performance-based revenue-share model for the portfolio. This is the first portfolio of grid-interactive projects for Energy Toolbase, says Chris Sefel, the Manager of Enterprise Sales with Energy Toolbase.
“We intend to replicate this model and enable many more ETB-controlled energy storage systems to participate in the wholesale energy markets.”
Energy Toolbase recently launched its Special Programs feature on the ETB Monitor platform, which enables Acumen EMS-controlled energy storage systems to function as virtual power plants and participate in demand response or grid services programs. This feature allows customers to view, manage, and schedule participation into energy market programs, such as DRAM in California. Asset owners are able to extract the maximum value from standalone storage and solar + storage projects by co-optimizing value capture with behind-the-meter utility bill savings control strategies.
Tags: commercial and industrial
