PV Solar System to Provide Storm Outage Relief
David Wagman | October 25, 2017
Five years after Hurricane Sandy caused extensive damage and outages across New Jersey, officials from Public Service Electric and Gas Co. opened a solar storage project that will help keep a wastewater treatment plant running during an extended power outage as a result of severe weather.
The Caldwell solar storage system is one of three similar projects that are in service as part of PSE&G's Solar 4 All program.
The system combines a 2,682-panel, 896-kilowatt-dc solar system with 1 megawatt-hour batteries.
During normal operation, the solar system provides electricity to the grid and can power about 165 homes annually. In the event of an extended outage, the combined solar and battery system works with the treatment plant's existing diesel back-up generators. During the day, the solar panels recharge the batteries and help power the wastewater treatment plant. At night, the batteries help keep the facility running.
The combined solar storage system and back-up generators are expected to allow the Caldwell plant to operate for as long as 10 days without outside power, which will help keep wastewater from the facility out of local waterways. The solar storage system can also participate in PJM's frequency regulation market.
The Caldwell wastewater treatment plant solar storage system is part of a 3 MW-dc carve-out in the Solar 4 All program dedicated to developing projects that integrate solar with other technologies to reduce the impact solar has on the grid or increase reliability and grid resiliency for critical facilities during prolonged power outages.
The two other PSE&G solar storage projects in service are at Hopewell Valley Regional High School in Hopewell, N.J., and at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, N.J. The former allows the high school to serve as a warming or cooling station for the public and the latter provides back-up power for refrigeration needed for pediatric medications.
Advanced Solar Power was the engineering, procurement and construction contractor for the Caldwell project. Eos Energy Storage supplied the batteries, Siemens AG integrated the batteries and solar system, and A.F. Mensah is the storage system operator.
Solar 4 All is a 158 MW-dc community solar program that utilizes rooftops, parking lots, utility poles and landfills/brownfields for large-scale, grid connected solar projects. There are currently 124 MW-dc of the 158 MW-dc total in-service.
