Material handling equipment and intralogistics provider Raymond Implements is celebrating the deployment of a solar and battery storage microgrid at its distribution warehouse in midstate New York. Contact online >>
Material handling equipment and intralogistics provider Raymond Implements is celebrating the deployment of a solar and battery storage microgrid at its distribution warehouse in midstate New York.
The behind-the-meter energy storage and renewable combo includes a new energy management system at the Raymond facility in Greene, New York. The project also includes a forklift-to-grid charging system.
“With the implementation of behind-the-meter storage at our distribution center, we have gained insights into the benefits of the system in material handling applications specifically related to alleviating increased demand associated with charging of advanced power solutions including lithium,” said Jennifer de Souza, vice president of energy solutions, procurement and leasing at parent Raymond Corp., in a company statement. “We are excited to continue to demonstrate a new energy storage process and solution for warehouse energy management that will reduce utility costs for warehouse owners.”.
Raymond has been working on development of the microgrid, electrification and energy management project for nearly five years. The project began as an energy storage collaboration with Binghamton University and was partially funded through a $1 million award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
The generation side of the microgrid is comprised of a 200-kW solar photovoltaic array and 250-kW/420-kWh battery energy storage system.
The later stages of project development focused on installing advanced lithium-ion battery chargers to balance grid and microgrid charging, with a priority placed on the renewable generation, the company said.
Raymond is optimistic enough about the success of the microgrid project that it is now installing a front-of-the-meter solar rooftop system at its Syracuse, New York, parts distribution facility.
“The energy storage system can transform warehouses into controllable energy hubs or virtual power plants, which can be optimized to support the power grid during normal and peak grid conditions while improving sustainability and carbon neutrality,” de Souza added.
Raymond Corp. is owned by Toyota Industries. It manufactures material handling and intralogistics solutions such as forklift trucks and pallet jacks.
Binghamton University, meanwhile, is developing research and innovation projects for energy transition sectors. One of those is BU’s new program called ChargeUp, which supports and provides some seed funding to battery innovation startups.
For Microgrid Knowledge editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].
I''ve spent the last 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. I was an energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World before moving to business-to-business media at PennWell Publishing, which later became Clarion Events, where I covered the electric power industry. I joined Endeavor Business Media in November 2021 to help launch EnergyTech, one of the company''s newest media brands. I joined Microgrid Knowledge in July 2023.
I earned my Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. My career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World, all in Oklahoma . I have been married to Laura for the past 33-plus years and we have four children and one adorable granddaughter. We want the energy transition to make their lives better in the future.
Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech are focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.
Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.
The Blue Lake Rancheria (BLR) is located in California''s Humboldt Bay area, nearly 300 miles north of San Francisco. This rural region sits at the junction of three tectonic plates, and is subject to heavy rainstorms, forest fires, and frequent power outages. Located on the eastern edge of the Humboldt Bay community, the Rancheria houses tribal government offices, EV charging, a convenience store and gas station, a hotel and casino, and energy and water systems — including a low-carbon microgrid. Together, these facilities serve as an American Red Cross emergency evacuation site, and the Tribe was recognized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2017 for their whole community preparedness efforts.
The BLR microgrid integrates a solar array, battery storage, and control systems to allow the Rancheria campus to operate in tandem with or islanded from the main utility grid. It generates renewable energy and provides approximately $150,000 in annual electricity savings. The BLR microgrid was funded by a $5 million grant from the California Energy Commission through their EPIC program. The Schatz Center was the prime contractor and lead technology integrator for the project.
In 2018, the microgrid was awarded the DistribuTECH Project of the Year for Distributed Energy Resource Integration.
In 2019, the capacity of the battery was more than doubled — from 500 kW/950 kWh to 1150kW/1950kWh — for increased grid support, load capacity, and resiliency duration. This expansion was significantly funded by the California Public Utilities Commission’s Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP).
Islanding: The electrical service to the main BLR campus was reconfigured to create one point of common coupling (PCC) between the campus and the main utility grid. This PCC includes the powerline protections and control functionality required for the microgrid to automatically disconnect from the main grid during an outage, and then reconnect when grid power has been restored. Operators at BLR can also manually island the microgrid for energy management, maintenance, or security reasons. Seamless transitions between connected and islanded states are unnoticeable to building occupants, and have been approved by Pacific Gas & Electric, the local utility.
Optimal battery dispatch: Under normal conditions, the microgrid uses an energy load forecast, the solar availability forecast, and the current electricity rate schedule to determine when to store energy in the battery and when to dispatch it to the main grid.
Resiliency: If the main grid loses power, the microgrid automatically disconnects and begins operating in island mode. When islanded, the microgrid management system (MGMS) prioritizes clean generation — but if needed, the MGMS can also seamlessly bring a 1 MW isochronous backup generator online to support the PV and battery.
Load management: BLR staff have determined five priority levels for campus energy loads, which their operators can choose to "shed" (turn off) in the event of an extended power outage. Non-essential load shedding would allow the microgrid to operate indefinitely during an emergency.
Our partners and subcontractors on the original BLR microgrid project included: The California Energy Commission (major funder), the Blue Lake Rancheria (site host and major funder), Pacific Gas & Electric (local utility), Siemens (MGMS), Tesla (battery energy storage system), Idaho National Laboratory (testing and simulation), Robert Colburn Electric (electrical contractor), REC Solar (turnkey PV system), McKeever Energy & Electric (PV installation), GHD, inc. (electrical engineering), and Kernen Construction (civil construction for the project).
Michigan-based Our Next Energy (ONE) is going to open a long-duration battery storage factory in West Virginia, next to a 420 MWh solar microgrid.
ONE will manufacture the Aries Grid, a utility-scale lithium iron phosphate battery system that debuted at the end of February, in Millwood, West Virginia, on a site called Ravenswood.
ONE says its Aries Grid long-duration energy storage system''s USP is as follows:
The lithium-ion energy storage system usesanLFPcathodechemistrythatis more durableand has double the lifetime energy throughput of thenickel, cobalt, and manganese (NCM) chemistries [that]make upmostcommercially available stationary energy storage systemsin the US.
Aries Grid will use ONE''s Aries transportation 79-kWh battery pack, and it will be available in 2-, 3-, and 6-MWh modular units so systems can be customized. It has discharge times ranging from four to 12 hours, and it can form a microgrid that can provide unlimited 24/7 firm baseload capacity for anything from communities to EV chargers:
ONE is buying and upgrading a 40,000-square-foot shuttered aluminum plant on the Ravenswood site. The company expects its factory to come online in 2025, and it will start hiring next year. It''s expected to create around 100 jobs.
ONE''s new factory will sit right next to Des Moines-headquartered renewable developer Berkshire Hathaway Energy (BHE) Renewables. BHE selected ONE as its partner for utility-scale battery storage at its first-of-its-kind solar energy microgrid-powered industrial site.
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