Ken Zagzebski, President of AES United States and President and CEO of IPALCO, made the announcement as part of a panel of national leaders in clean energy.
AES was invited to join regulators, power companies, municipalities, and energy developers from at least eight states who are leading efforts to promote smart electricity markets and greater grid integration of renewable energy and flexible resources such as energy storage.
The 17 companies participating in today’s summit have announced projects which will result in at least 1.3 gigawatts of additional storage procurement or deployment in the next five years.
AES United States president Ken Zagzebski said: "Our people have been instrumental in keeping AES and its businesses at the forefront of innovative solutions to address current challenges in our industry in ways that are both economically and environmentally sustainable.
"Consistent with my remarks at the White House Summit, the integration of advanced technologies with existing infrastructure will benefit customers with safe and reliable service, while also strengthening the resiliency of the grid for years to come."
The Advancion Array is the first grid-scale, battery-based energy storage system in the 15-state Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) region. It is also the first grid-scale energy storage system in the United States that will be used to provide primary frequency response, an essential reliability service.
The energy storage facility can instantaneously match supply and demand of electricity, and also increases the ability to balance out intermittent resources such as wind or solar energy. The storage system is located on the southwest side of Indianapolis at the IPL Harding Street Station.
IPL is utilizing AES’ Advancion 4, the next generation of grid-scale, battery-based energy storage. The fourth generation design incorporates lessons learned from more than 3 million megawatt-hours of delivered service across a global energy storage fleet.
On Monday, AES was recognized by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) with the 2016 International Edison Award for the development and deployment of this Advancion platform.
IPL was recognized as one of the eight finalists for the 2016 U.S. Edison Award during EEI’s Annual Convention in Chicago for its innovative execution of solar generation and battery storage projects.
This award is the electric power industry’s most prestigious honor and is awarded to utilities demonstrating leadership, innovation, and progress in advancing the electric power industry.
IPL President and CEO Rafael Sanchez said: "IPL is transforming its generation fleet and taking an all-of-the-above approach to create innovative energy solutions.
"The way IPL is diversifying its energy mix will significantly reduce dependence on coal while keeping costs competitive."
In three years, IPL has rapidly deployed 96 megawatts of solar through 37 solar farms. Indianapolis was recognized by the Environment America Research & Policy Center report ‘Shining Cities 2016’ as the city with the 2nd highest amount of Solar PV on a per capita basis (after Honolulu) and #5 out of the top 20 cities for installed Solar PV.
