The utility has been recognised for employing innovation, leadership in energy storage and for its positive impact on the energy storage industry, owing to two of the energy provider’s projects.
National Grid won in the categories of microgrids and behind-the-meter projects for its Nantucket Battery Energy Storage facility and the Connected Solutions battery programme, respectively.
The utility has installed a 6MW/48MWh battery energy storage system in Nantucket, Massachusetts to ensure grid reliability during peak demand periods as well as to defer the need for an additional expensive underwater supply cable to the island.
The island receives the majority of its energy from undersea supply cables from the mainland.
National Grid partnered with Tesla to build the plant, the largest battery storage system in New England.
In the Connected Solutions project, the utility has set a goal to register 800 consumers by 2022 since launch in June 2018.
The project is the first performance-based residential Bring Your Own Battery demand response programme in the US.
Participants are provided with incentives ranging from $250-400 per kilowatt-hour a year for reducing their energy usage during peak periods.
National Grid partnered with EnergyHub, Pika Energy, Solar Edge, Sonnen, Sunrun, and Tesla.
Janice Lin, Energy Storage North America Conference Chair, said: “The winners of this year’s ESNA Awards have each played an integral role in advancing the energy storage ecosystem through impactful programmes, projects, technologies or policies.
“Their work is paving the way for the global transition to a clean, resilient, and reliable grid. By opening new markets and solving real-world problems for customers and the grid, these projects and industry leaders continue to propel our industry toward unprecedented innovation and growth.”
Marcy L. Reed, president of National Grid for Massachusetts, adds: “We’re striving to develop and implement cost-effective leading-edge solutions that not only usher in the clean energy future but also provide real benefits for our customers in terms of cost-savings and safe, reliable energy to their homes and businesses.
“We’re proud to be recognised by ESNA for our efforts and will work with customers and partners to continue developing more innovative solutions like these.”
ESNA is the largest annual gathering of policy, technology and market leaders in energy storage, recognized the winners of its 2019 Innovation Awards at the San Diego Convention Center. Winners were selected through online public voting, for which over 2,500 votes were cast. National Grid won two of the three awards presented.
