The project, which includes the first iron flow battery to be used for a gas compression plant, underscores the capabilities of ESS’s Energy Warehouse to deliver low-cost, long-duration energy storage over a 20+ year operational lifespan. When paired with solar photovoltaics, the Energy Warehouse provides a sustainable, resilient energy storage solution for critical infrastructure.
Consumers Energy provides natural gas and/or electricity to two thirds of Michigan’s 10 million residents and is the principal subsidiary of CMS Energy. This project will help to achieve the goals laid out in the Energy Storage Roadmap for Michigan, released in April by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, which calls for 1,000 megawatts (MW) of storage by 2025 and 4,000 MW by 2040.
“ESS is proud to provide our safe and non-toxic battery storage system to a leading utility provider in the Midwest serving millions of customers,” said Hugh McDermott, SVP of business development and sales at ESS Inc. “We are especially pleased to have our first project for Consumers Energy be a solar-plus-storage microgrid – a hugely beneficial solution for utilities and commercial/industrial customers who need sustainable and cost-effective energy resilience solutions.”
“Consumers Energy’s partnership with ESS on this first-of-its-kind project is another positive step toward a cleaner energy future for Michigan,” said Dennis Dobbs, VP of gas engineering and supply at Consumers Energy. “This project delivers on our goal of producing and storing clean, renewable electricity to help the environment, reduce electric bills and increase operational efficiency at the compressor station. And by integrating ESS’s Energy Warehouse we are able to ensure the safe, dependable operation of our critical infrastructure.”
Utilizing earth-abundant iron, salt and water for its electrolyte, and simple materials for battery components, the ESS Energy Warehouse is a durable, environmentally safe, long-duration storage solution that is ideally suited for time-shifting renewable energy, managing a facility’s demand charges, and smoothing the intermittency of renewables on a constrained grid. It aligns well with the life span of solar and wind projects, supporting those applications’ low levelized cost of energy requirements.
