Bear Peak Power received preliminary approval from North Huntingdon commissioners this week to build a lithium-ion battery farm.
The Denver renewable energy company plans to build a battery energy storage system off Route 993 on a four-acre parcel between the Western Westmoreland Municipal Authority’s sewage plant and Ridinger Park Road.
The facility could provide power during a brownout or alleviate a heavy demand for power.
While the company received preliminary approval, detailed plans for the battery energy storage system still must receive approval, said Ryan Fonzi, township planning director. The system is not expected to be operational until 2028.
Bear Peak Power, which operates utility-scale solar power systems and energy storage systems, envisions installing 16 metal containers — 50 feet long and 10 feet tall — to hold the lithium-ion batteries on a triangular piece of property adjacent to a FirstEnergy Corp. transmission substation.
It could connect the system to the power grid, said Chris Vorlicek, Bear Peak Power’s director of development. It would be on property Rose Gate Real Estate of Denver and FJB Solar LLC of Englewood, Colo., bought last year for $40,000, according to Westmoreland County real estate documents.
Nearby residents would not be able to see the project because it is at least 200 feet from the nearest residence and a wooded area would block their view of the containers, Vorlicek said. The footprint of the project could change, depending upon an evaluation from First Energy, Vorlicek said.
The battery energy storage system has the capacity to hold 0.023 megawatts of power. It could be used to alleviate congestion in the movement of power on the PJM Interconnection electricity grid and provide some backup power. The batteries would be energized by receiving power from FirstEnergy, Vorlicek said.
By comparison, the coal-fired Homer City Generation Plant, which will be decommissioned in the beginning of July, had a capacity to produce about 1,880 megawatts of power.
First Energy has been in contact with the developer about several projects, said Todd Meyers, a company spokesman.
The company has to conduct studies on projects such as this one, which intends to use power on the PJM Interconnection. PJM is the regional transmission operator that manages power on a 13-state grid. Greensburg-based West Penn Power, one of FirstEnergy’s utility companies, does not have a battery storage system in its service territory, Meyers said.
Only after PJM approves a project can construction move forward, Meyers said.
PJM will enter the project into a queue of other proposed projects and conduct a feasibility study to estimate interconnection costs and construction time, and provide feedback to the project developer, said Daniel Lockwood, a PJM spokesman.
The battery systems are generally designed to provide power for up to four hours and can be used for short-term peak power and ancillary services, such as providing operating reserve and frequency control to minimize the chance of power outages, Lockwood said.
