When high winds knocked out power across Maryland last month, a battery energy storage system (BESS) installed just weeks prior restored power for nearly 400 Potomac Edison customers.
The BESS supports Potomac Edison customers served by a line in a rural part of Allegany and Washington counties, an area that frequently experience power outages during severe weather. During the power outage, the 1.75 MW, 8.4 MWh BESS provided 11 hours of backup power, reducing the duration of the outage until utility crews were able to make repairs and restore service.
Built and operated by Convergent, the BESS was installed to enhance grid reliability for over 600 Potomac Edison customers thanks to Maryland’s Energy Storage Pilot Program, which was established in 2019 to examine new technologies that could have a transformative impact on electric distribution systems.
Don Jenkins, Convergent’s chief operating officer said the event “speaks to the pressing need for more energy storage in communities that are vulnerable to power outages.”
Convergent’s system with Potomac Edison is known as a non-wires alternative, which removes or defers the need to construct or upgrade components in distribution and transmission systems. Convergent told pv magazine USA the system is a lithium-ion BESS made by ELM Microgrid.
Potomac Edison serves about 285,000 customers in all or parts of Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Howard, Montgomery and Washington counties in Maryland and about 155,000 customers in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia.
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