AMS Virtual Power Plant delivered 2 GWh Of Grid Services in first year of operation

AMS announced Tuesday that its virtual power plant (VPP) project in Southern California delivered over 2 gigawatt hours (GWh) of grid services to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) during its first year of operation.

AMS designed and operates the VPP, while Macquarie Capital owns it. It is part of a grid modernization project for Southern California Edison (SCE). The VPP, the largest of its kind operating in the world, uses battery storage to control and reduce peak demand at large commercial and industrial customer facilities in the Los Angeles Basin.

“SCE is proving that distributed energy, properly harnessed, can provide flexibility to the grid while reducing energy costs for customers,” Susan Kennedy, CEO of AMS, said. “By using batteries to replace fossil fuels for peak demand in a region like Los Angeles, California is proving that 100% clean energy policies can be achieved anywhere in the world.”

In 2014, SCE awarded AMS a contract to reduce peak demand in the LA Basin by installing battery storage systems behind-the-meter at its commercial industrial customer sites. The first phase of the project, which consists of 11 megawatts (MW) and 60 megawatt hours (MWh), began operating in 2018.

The first phase of the project includes a fleet of 21 Hybrid Electric Buildings owned by the Irvine Company. The fleet can reduce peak demand by up to 10 MW within minutes of an automated signal from the grid operator. During the winter, the fleet was dispatched on 64 business days in a row with no impact to building operations. The project generated more than $1 million in total energy cost savings to SCE customers, according to AMS.

AMS designed the project with its Armada software platform, which identifies the most cost-effective technology design for three-dimensional financial performance – guaranteed customer savings, dispatchable capacity for contracted grid services and investment-grade project-level returns.

When completed in 2019, the project will encompass 62 MW and 352 MWh.