A German manufacturer of long-duration energy storage systems that's planning to test its products in Milwaukee later this year has announced another U.S. testing site.
The Phoenix pilot project, called Desert Blume, will use proprietary non-lithium battery technology from CMBlu Energy to store 5 megawatts of energy, mostly from solar generation during the daytime, for a 10-hour duration so that it can be released into the power grid during the night.
The energy storage capacity would be enough to power about 1,125 average homes for 10 hours in the Phoenix metro, said Salt River Project (SRP), the nonprofit electric utility in Tempe, Arizona, that partnering with CMBlu Energy AG, which is based near Frankfurt, Germany.
The project is heftier than CMBlu's pilot project in Milwaukee. The company’s Organic SolidFlow battery system uses a nonflammable mixture of solid electrolyte and water-based electrolyte with high energy density and performance, SRP said in its announcement, adding that the systems are fully recyclable, free of rare metals.
In Milwaukee, CMBlu is working with WEC Energy Group Inc. and will take place at WEC Energy's Valley Power Plant, CMBlue and WEC Energy announced in February. The 1-2 megawatt-hour pilot with WEC Energy Group will test Organic SolidFlow energy storage for discharge durations of five to 10 hours, which is up to twice as long as typical lithium-ion batteries.
The pilot project in Milwaukee — the first test of this type of energy storage system on the U.S. electric grid — is expected to take place in the fourth quarter of this year, according to CMBlu and WEC Energy (NYSE: WEC).
“One of our most important goals is to help shape the future of clean energy by testing technologies that could be true game changers,” Gale Klappa, executive chairman of Milwaukee-based WEC Energy Group, said in a press release.
The companies are also working with the Electric Power Research Institute on the pilot project. Findings on the Milwaukee pilot project will be shared with the utility industry. EPRI will share its analysis in early 2024.
