Solar+storage+sewage in Orlando resiliency plan

Duke Energy has presented a plan to the City of Orlando for a 1 to 3 MWac solar plant plus a 5 to 10 MW energy storage facility at a local sewage plant. The project is the first of potentially 14 solar+storage sites at strategic city locations.

January 15, 2019 John Fitzgerald Weaver

Eos' Aurora System

Image: Eos

The City of Orlando’s largest electricity user is the Iron Bridge Water Reclamation Facility. Originally built in 1982, it was upgraded in 2005 with nine standby generators, each rated 1 MW (pdf).

In December of 2018, Duke Energy and the City of Orlando signed a memorandum of understanding, noting that the company would develop a solar+storage energy project at the Iron Bridge Wastewater facility. The city has suggested offering 30 acre of onsite retention ponds for the installation of the solar modules. It is noted that Duke will finance, develop, build, own and operate the facility. The City of Orlando is expected to see lower operating costs as a result of the new electricity source, in addition to specifically constructing the energy facilities to give the wastewater plant specified resiliency benefits in emergency situations.

Local Kevin Spear reported that the City of Orlando was also potentially seeking to harden up to 14 sites across the city in times against the grid going down in time of emergency – most often hurricanes in the Sunshine State. The other sites include the emergency operations center, fire stations, and other locations that turn into storm shelters.

While the project specifics weren’t available, it was suggested that the facility would offer be between one to three MW of solar power, and the energy storage facility would offer a power rating between 5 and 10 MW. There was no notation on the capacity (MWh) of the energy storage, nor the dc side of the solar power.

Solar+storage for purpose of resilience is growing without a doubt, and backing up local strategic infrastructure is a growing market. In late 2017, Eos Energy Storage installed a 896 kWdc solar pv system plys 250 kW / 1 MWh zinc hybrid energy storage system at the Public Service Electric and Gas Company wastewater treatment facility in Caldwell, New Jersey (main image). Lancaster Pennsylvania installed a 1 MWh battery within a 7.5 MW wind and 500 kWdc solar power microgrid to back up their wastewater treatment plant.

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