GE Renewable Energy to Implement DC-Coupled Solar and Battery Energy Storage Hybrid System in Upstate New York

GE Renewable Energy announces today that is 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, NY. 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 enables 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 optimizing equipment and installation costs and increasing the overall system reliability.

 “The world is seeing an increased penetration of renewable generation, driven by the declining Levelized Cost of Electricity (LCoE) of wind and solar.” says 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.”