GE Renewable Energy to Implement Solar Plus Storage Hybrid Project in New York

The hybrid system will be installed in upstate New York at the end of 2019 and is expected to reach commercial operation in the second quarter of 2020.

GE Renewable Energy has reached an agreement with Helios Energy to deliver two energy storage systems to be integrated with solar arrays for the Lenox Solar/Energy Storage project in Lenox, New York.

The hybrid system will be installed in upstate New York at the end of 2019 and is expected to reach commercial operation in the second quarter of 2020.

The project will enable dispatchable renewable energy penetration into the grid, helping power New York state with reliable renewable energy. Seamlessly integrating solar and storage solutions together enable an overall higher availability and capacity factor while delivering dispatchable and predictable renewable energy into the grid.

The battery system will store the energy that the solar field generates during the day when the sun shines and allow the site to meet power requirements during other peak demand periods.

The system will use a direct DC coupled configuration with a single inverter and single point of interconnection shared by the solar array and the storage system, helping improve the overall energy output of the hybrid system while optimising equipment and installation costs and increasing the overall system reliability.

“The world is seeing an increased penetration of renewable generation, driven by the declining Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCoE) of wind and solar,” said Rob Morgan, Energy Storage CEO, GE Renewable Energy.  “In addition, with the context of declining costs of battery storage, combining renewable energy generation sources together with storage will help unlock new revenue and value streams in the renewable hybrid industry and accelerate the energy transition to more renewables.”

Recently, GE signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MoU) with Eolien Maritime France (EMF) confirming its commitment to provide and service Haliade 150-6MW turbines to the first of the French EMF offshore wind farms to be cleared of any legal recourse. The MoU however, saw the clean energy major terminate its exclusive supplier status on the two other projects carried out by EMF.