Tesla Battery Being Used In Duke Energy Florida & University of South Florida Solar Project

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Florida has been far behind in the solar power revolution. Finding better direction, Duke Energy news shares that the company’s efforts towards pursuing clean energy solutions through university research will also involve storing energy from the sun. A solar battery project is bringing together Duke Energy Florida and the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg (USFSP).

The USFSP research project is seeking to learn more about renewable solutions and how to store and use energy from the sun. The project comes from a $1 million grant from Duke Energy.

Take a look at the top of USF, St. Petersburg’s 5th Avenue South parking garage. Installed on the roof is a 100-kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic (PV) system. A freestanding canopy of solar panels of this size with space beneath for parking can produce enough energy to power an electric car for half a million miles. The 100-kW solar array at USF, St. Petersburg, measures approximately 7,100 square feet. It has 318 individual panels.

Duke Energy’s press release continues with Alex Glenn, state president of Duke Energy Florida, stating: “This partnership gives Duke Energy and the University of South Florida additional firsthand experience in solar battery storage systems. The innovative and cutting-edge research also provides students a real-world learning environment as we develop alternative energy solutions for our customers.”

The 5th Avenue site system uses solar energy in the garage for lights, elevators, and electric-vehicle charging stations, and the rest is stored in battery systems or put on the electric grid for immediate use. Displayed on the USFSP campus is the high-resolution data collected on the PV installation. Thus, students can follow and learn from the energy storage system. The data are displayed on an online dashboard and several kiosks on the St. Petersburg campus.

As noted in the headline, the batteries used for the Duke Energy & USF project are reportedly coming from Tesla Energy. The press release doesn’t mention that, but Mark Shreiner of WUSF actually has a pic of Tesla Energy mechanical engineer Chad Conway explaining the battery system to Duke Energy Florida President Alex Glenn.

Being at the “utility-scale” level, Tesla “Powerpacks,” as we’re calling them for now, will be the battery systems used in this pilot project — rather than the more widely discussed Powerwalls. According to Tesla CEO and Product Architect Elon Musk, these utility-scale batteries come at a super-low price of $250/kWh and are competitive with any other battery storage systems on the market. Some much larger flow batteries come very close in the lifetime per-kWh price if you estimate a 30-year life and unlimited cycling for them. But note that the warranty period for the Imergy batteries is just 5–10 years, despite claims of unlimited cycling and long life. Another top competitor is the Eos Aurora 1000 | 6000 from Eos Energy Storage. It’s actually much cheaper according to company specs, but it’s not actually on the market yet. All in all, this makes Tesla’s batteries, based on widely used lithium-ion chemistry that has proven itself in many industries, an attractive option for those looking to inch their way into the use of energy storage. I’m curious to see what results we get from the Duke Energy and USF pilot project.


 

The funding for the new, larger energy storage system generates an opportunity to build upon existing battery technology. At the same time, operating in conjunction with two smaller, existing USF energy storage systems, a growing system evolves.

The Duke Energy Press release continues: “This is an opportunity to manage energy costs while promoting sustainability on campus,” said USFSP Regional Chancellor Sophia Wisniewska. “We are pleased and proud to have been awarded this grant, and to provide faculty and students with a chance to help build something of lasting impact. USFSP has long enjoyed a strong partnership with Duke Energy and we look forward to future collaborations.”

A few more details from the press release:

“USFSP has an existing 2.0-kW solar energy system located at its Central Facilities Plant constructed in partnership with Duke Energy and the USF Tampa School of Engineering. Additionally, a series of solar panels provides power for decorative lights on campus.”

In other efforts, Duke Energy has a number of battery storage projects underway:

  • Duke Energy Florida’s SEEDS (Sustainable Electrical Energy Delivery Systems) program, which includes two battery storage projects at the University of South Florida at St. Petersburg and the Albert Whitted Park, also in St. Petersburg. The two units combine energy storage systems with small solar arrays.
  • Twenty-four K-12 schools in the Duke Energy Florida service territory have received 25-kilowatt-hour battery backup systems funded by the company that are integrated with their solar PV installations. As with other battery storage projects at Duke Energy, there is performance monitoring of these systems to learn more about combining intermittent energy resources with storage. The installations also help foster educational opportunities for students at the schools.
  • The company’s Notrees Battery Storage Project in West Texas is North American’s largest battery storage installation project at a wind farm. Duke Energy matched a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to install 36-megawatt (MW) large-scale batteries capable of storing electricity produced by its 153-MW Notrees wind farm.

In other hopeful news, CleanTechnica reports that a fair number of workers will have work from by Duke Energy via solar energy construction projects in North Carolina in the next few months: Duke Energy 900 Workers In North Carolina During Peak Solar Construction This Summer. The largest is at the Warsaw Solar Facility being constructed in Duplin County — a 65 MW project, but there’s also “the 40 MW Elm City Solar Facility being built in Wilson County and the 23 MW Fayetteville Solar project being constructed in Bladen County.”

It has not been so long since Florida’s Duke Energy announced plans to expand the company’s solar footprint. Its plan is to add up to 500 MW of utility-scale solar in Florida by 2024.

Related Stories:

NC Suspects Duke Energy Coal Ash In Water Well Poisoning

Insane Solar Jobs Boom About To Get $32 Million More Insane

Duke Energy Acquiring Majority Stake In REC Solar — Investing $225 Million Into Commercial Solar Projects

Duke Energy Attacks Rooftop Solar Energy (VIDEOS)

500 MW of Utility-Scale Solar in Florida by 2024 — 10 Year Plan from Duke Energy


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Cynthia Shahan

Cynthia Shahan, started writing after previously doing research and publishing work on natural birth practices. Words can be used improperly depending on the culture you are in. (Several unrelated publications) She has a degree in Education, Anthropology, Creative Writing, and was tutored in Art as a young child thanks to her father the Doctor. Pronouns: She/Her

Cynthia Shahan has 947 posts and counting. See all posts by Cynthia Shahan