Peak Demand: O&R Plans Battery Storage Project For Rockland

PEARL RIVER, NY — Orange & Rockland and Key Capture Energy announced Wednesday that the utility company has selected KCE to plan, design, install and operate a battery storage project in Pomona.

The utility company wants the additional capacity so it can maintain safe and reliable power to its customers without building expensive new distribution and transmission infrastructure. The innovative system will provide power during summer peak electricity demand periods.

O&R is jumping on the bandwagon as New York pursues clean energy for the future. In December, the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) adopted a target for 1,500 megawatts of energy storage by 2025 and established a 3,000 megawatt target by 2030.

Here's why: Energy storage will enhance the efficiency of the electric grid by deploying storage energy where it is needed most. Further, energy storage systems will allow New York to meet its peak power needs without relying on its oldest and dirtiest peak generating plants, many of which are approaching the end of their useful lives, the PSC said.

A typical 1-megawatt utility-scaled storage battery looks like a tractor trailer truck. In this phase of the project, O&R expects to use three to four tractor trailers.

The battery storage project is part of O&R’s Pomona Non-Wires Alternative (NWA) Project, a
program designed to help O&R maintain reliable service for customers and reduce emissions
from power plants. The program is comprised of an array of strategies designed to
provide smarter energy management.

New energy products and services such as the Pomona battery storage project, provide the region with environmental benefits, while also creating new jobs and economic opportunity.

“New technologies give us new options,” said O&R Vice President – Operations Francis W.
Peverly. “Using those options, we can build a more resilient energy system while minimizing
future costs to our customers. Working with third-party developers, we are incorporating world-
class solutions to meet the local needs of our energy system and our communities.”

The battery for Pomona will connect to the O&R system through O&R’s overhead distribution
lines. The project will allow O&R to delay building costly new infrastructure only needed for those few times a year of peak demand.

KCE is an Albany-based, independent developer of utility-scale battery storage projects.

“The O&R Pomona Non-Wires Alternative Project provides a solution that has far reaching
benefits that accrue to utility customers as well as to the environment,” said KCE Chief
Operating Officer Dan Fitzgerald. “As a company based in New York State, we are very pleased
to work with O&R, and look forward to further improving their distribution assets.”