NORTH TROY — Operators cut the ribbon on Friday for a new utility-scale battery, which is expected to keep renewable energy projects in the area running more consistently while reducing strain on the electrical grid during peak usage times.
Sixteen white blocks, roughly the size of shipping containers, hummed quietly on Friday as members of Vermont Electric Cooperative, the U.S. Department of Energy and other partners announced the project’s completion. It’s expected to come online in the next several weeks after a yearslong process that began in 2021.
The 3-megawatt battery can store enough energy to power 600 homes for a full day, according to Kristin Carlson, a spokesperson for Green Mountain Power, which will own and operate the project jointly with Vermont Electric Cooperative.
The battery is located in “a really unique spot in the grid” called the Sheffield-Highgate Export Interface, where sometimes there is “more renewable energy produced than we have capacity to either use locally, or to export on transmission lines,” said Rebecca Towne, chief executive officer at Vermont Electric Cooperative.
What happens then, she said, is that local renewable energy projects, such as Kingdom Community Wind — a controversial project along the Lowell Mountains that was completed in 2012 — have to power down or reduce the amount of energy they generate. In essence, a lack of capacity can kick renewable energy off the grid.