Electricity Utilities Solutions

Many high value applications of energy storage today are being deployed in rural locations. Electricity distribution utilities can benefit from using the following energy storage solutions:

Upgrading Single Wire Earth Return (SWER) Lines
It is quite common for a dispersed group of farms to be served by an aging SWER (single wire earth return) electricity line. That line might provide electricity to perhaps 70 homes spread over 40 kilometres or more. When the line was installed 40 years ago, most homes only had small electricity loads (kettles, fridges and lights). Now, with modern air-conditioning and big screen TVs, peak electrical demand in the evenings is overloading the line and causing blackouts.
The electricity utility, which is obliged to maintain a high standard of electricity supply, can consider:

1. A major upgrade along the whole length of the existing SWER line, with new wires and transformers at a capital cost of say $4 million; or
2. Installing a cluster of approximately 10 RedFlow systems (distributed around local properties) to feed power back into the SWER line grid in peak evening times. The cost might be $600,000 to $1 million, including installation.

Replacing Aging Infrastructure
There are many cases where it is simply uneconomic to maintain aging power lines. In some locations where there is rolling or hilly country, utilities may even have to use helicopters to replace rotting wooden cross-arms on 30 year-old power poles (at a cost of $5,000 or more each time, for a customer whose annual electricity bill may only be $1,000). Moreover, the customer might face an outage of days or more while that essential repair is carried out.

In these situations, utilities may consider total replacement of the aging line with a modern packaged remote area power system (RAPS) made by RedFlow. This includes energy storage and a high quality diesel generating set, and all integrated with utility-supplied solar PV panels.