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OPALCO’s First Battery Storage Project

Posted in Ask OPALCO, Climate Change, Energy Efficiency & Conservation, Renewable Energy, Tech Tips

OPALCO has a vision for a healthy and sustainable energy future!

It includes local renewable energy generation for resilience in times of mainland power outages and to combat rising power and carbon costs. One part of that vision is to build community-scale solar projects coupled with batteries for energy storage. The first community solar project was completed in 2018 on Decatur Island (paid for 100% by member participants) – and this spring the battery storage component (the white container in the substation) will come online.

OPALCO plans to build a community solar project in 2020 and follow with a battery project in 2021 – and then repeat that pattern until member demand for community solar is met.

However, renewables are only one piece of the puzzle as OPALCO plans for where our future power will come from. Stay tuned for the rest of the story. Meanwhile:

 

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