Titan 1 Wind Energy is a 25MW wind farm, a first project for BP’s U.S.-operated wind business.
At this site, BP has installed the 212kV / 840kVh battery storage system that is designed, manufactured and installed by Tesla, using its Powerpack battery system.
BP’s global alternative energy business chief executive Dev Sanyal said: “As renewables form a bigger part of the energy mix, storage systems like this one will become increasingly important.
“This project will help us develop new business models around the integration of renewables, battery storage and other forms of energy – and it underscores our commitment to being a part of the transition to a lower-carbon future.”
The energy storage system will be integrated with the wind farm and configured to manage internal electricity demands of turbines when the wind is not blowing. By doing so, the system will enable the wind farm to store electricity when the site generating it and then supply the electricity when it needs to be consumed.
The project is the first combined wind and battery project in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), which oversees the bulk electric grid and wholesale power market in the central US on behalf of utilities and transmission companies in 14 states.
BP Wind Energy chief executive Laura Folse said: “Battery storage solutions are a proven proposition for storing energy and balancing out the intermittent and variable output of renewable energy sources.
“Insights from this project will enable BP to make better-informed decisions when evaluating and developing battery applications in the future, as well as help us to create a wind energy business that is sustainable for the long-term.”
In the US, BP operates 13 wind farms located in Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas and holds an interest in a separate wind farm in Hawaii. The gross generating capacity of its wind sites is 2.25GW, which is enough to power a city the size of Philadelphia.
