Valley nonprofit electric utility Salt River Project is teaming up with a German company that makes long-duration energy storage systems for a pilot storage project to serve customers in the Phoenix metro.
The 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, SRP said.
CMBlu will build, own and operate the batteries, which will be installed inside buildings at the Copper Crossing Energy and Research Center in Florence. The pilot project will be part of the third phase of development at Copper Crossing, where the first phase will include natural gas turbines and the second phase will add an advanced solar generation facility.
Construction on the system is set to start in early 2025, and it is expected to be operational by the end of that year. Once running, the system is expected to deliver energy for two to three times longer per cycle than the up to four-hour duration that lithium-ion systems can provide.
"We are privileged to work with CMBlu and gain experience with their extremely innovative technology," said Jim Pratt, CEO of SRP. "This resource will supplement SRP’s power system helping provide stored power for longer periods, especially in times of fluctuating, high energy demand from customers in the Valley. It will be a helpful addition to SRP’s significant number of renewable resources and storage projects, which generally only store energy for up to four hours."
CMBlu system also to be tested in Milwaukee and Austria
The German 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.
SRP said it will be the first American electric utility to use CMBlu’s batteries at this scale, and it chose the company after issuing a request for long-duration storage proposals.
CMBlu has recently announced its system will be deployed in Austria and at another pilot in Milwaukee. The Arizona pilot project will be an important test for the emerging technology, the company said.
"Desert Blume is a critical project to validate Organic SolidFlow batteries at scale and promote safe, sustainable, and secure long-duration energy storage built in the United States," said Ben Kaun, President of CMBlu Energy’s U.S. division, in a statement. "We’re thrilled to collaborate with SRP to support their rapid clean energy transition, as well as have the opportunity to demonstrate our technology in the Southwestern U.S. Phoenix anchors one of the country’s fastest growing metro areas, with abundant solar potential, making it an ideal environment for the next generation of LDES."
The pilot project’s performance will be monitored by the Electric Power Research Institute, SRP said.
SRP serves more than a million customers, mainly in the Valley. It has said it will continue to develop storage technologies as part of its commitment to reduce carbon intensity by more than 65% by 2035 and 90% by 2050. Besides projects at and near the Copper Crossing center, it has announced a large solar plant north of Flagstaff and a wind turbine facility in the same area.
