Battery energy storage specialist ELM MicroGrid has spent more than two decades building a nationwide energy storage and utility infrastructure businesses. Now, the company is bringing that expertise home with the installation of a new battery energy storage system at a solar microgrid project in Peoria, IL.
Part of the 2.5-megawatt Peoria Solar Energy Center that broke ground last year, the ELM MicroGrid batteries will help the new Peoria microgrid project produce and manage enough electricity to power more than 400 homes and businesses, provide an economic boost to the region.
“At a time when the demand for electricity is outpacing supply in Downstate Illinois, more energy needs to be generated and connected to the grid faster to provide reliability and cost saving benefits for our customers,” said Lenny Singh, Chairman and President of Ameren Illinois, at the project’s launch. “Thanks to a provision in the state’s Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, the Peoria Solar Energy Center – alongside our two other solar facilities in East St. Louis – will produce clean, reliable, and equitable energy in the community, for the community.”
The project sits on a 37-acre site on Prichard Road in northwest Peoria, and features nearly 5,000 solar panels feeding clean power into Ameren Illinois’ distribution system. Excess solar generation can, instead of being curtailed uselessly, be stored usefully in the big ELM battery system to be discharged later, helping reduce stress on the grid during periods of high demand and improving the utilization rate of Ameren’s of locally generated renewable energy.
The Peoria Solar Energy Center is a continuation of Ameren Illinois’ commitment to powering a stronger regional economy. The company has invested $112.4 million in recent years to improve reliability in the Peoria area, including high voltage transmission infrastructure, new substations, and automation to detect outages and restore power faster.
SOURCES: ELM MicroGrid, via LinkedIn; Ameren.
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