ESNA reveals energy storage award winners

Energy Storage North America recently announced the winners of theESNA Innovation Awards at the ESNA Conference and Expo 2013. The awards recognize organizations that are fueling forward progress in the utility grid, particularly in the field of energy storage solutions that are furthering advanced grid initiatives.

The winners of the award were recognized for their ability to develop energy storage solutions that function at a utility scale, support mobility applications and can function as behind-the-meter storage platforms.

Understanding what sets energy storage solutions apart
Janice Lin, managing partner of Strategen Consulting and Co Founder of the California Energy Storage Alliance, explained that the projects recognized with the award are important because energy storage could serve as a key energy grid innovation catalyst.

"The winners of the ESNA Innovation Award are symbolic of the commercial traction and opportunity that exists today in North America," said Lin. "The award attracted an impressive range of projects, all of which make money by performing market services for the grid, such as frequency regulation, load shifting or spinning reserve. And regardless of geography, megawatt size or application, what's quite clear is that energy storage is the economic key that unlocks the potential of renewables and solves the challenges of creating a dynamic and flexible grid."

The projects recognized with the ESNA Innovation Awards include a thermal energy storage program by theSouthern California Public Power Authority, a Grid on Wheels program in Delaware and a new renewables-enabledmicrogridserving the Santa Rita Jail in California.

When it comes to utility-scale projects, the ESNA recognized the Notrees Wind Energy Storage Project in Texas.

Energy storage and the network
Improving energy storage could enable wider use of renewable resources. The end result could be a much more efficient and sustainable grid. However, developing the kind of utility-and consumer-scale solutions necessary to support grid innovation can prove an incredibly difficult process. Besides establishing the kind of battery solutions necessary to achieve these goals, organizations must also establish connectivity solutions that can get the job done.

Serial-to-Ethernet solutions are integral to success when trying to establish more robust energy storage solutions. In many cases, the utility-specific technologies that come into play when establishing energy storage solutions require serial connections to ensure real time communications between batteries and grid equipment. This can prove incredibly problematic when moving from those serial connections to the Ethernet infrastructure in homes and in the broad grid network as a whole. As a result, terminal servers play a vital role in helping companies establish advanced energy storage platforms.

Perle offers a range of cost effective serial-to-Ethernet converters to help meet NERC-CIP compliance for the protection of critical cyberassets in substations. The IOLAN SDS HV/LDC Terminal Server is designed to meet harsh environments associated with Power Substations with attributes such as support for substation AC and DC voltage ranges, extended operating temperatures and meeting emission, immunity and safety approvals associated with substation IT equipment.