The University of South Florida, in partnership with Progress Energy Florida, has purchased two 5kW x 4hr VRB Energy Storage Systems from VRB Power Systems tha will be integrated with a solar project on the St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida. This project is aimed at evaluating the storage of intermittent solar photovoltaic energy and utilizing that energy at a time of maximum benefit to the customer and utility power systems.
The two sites will enable the evaluation of the potential of these advanced energy storage systems for a number of power system applications. John Davis, director of VRB Power Systems Inc., says, "VRB Power has developed as its standard small system offering, a 5kW 4 hour unit focused on the telecommunications sector.
"It is very exciting to see that this same platform can also form the basis for PV market applications, such as with Progress Energy. This demonstrates the flexibility and potential of the VRB flow battery and dramatically increases our market potential."
"The continued development of renewable energy is part of our balanced approach to meeting growing customer demand, and it will play a vital role in our energy future," said Jeff Corbett, Progress Energy Florida's senior vice president of Energy Delivery. "This system will allow storage of renewable energy for later use, when it is needed the most, such as very hot or very cold days. This partnership with USF will help enhance utilities' use of renewable energy, and it will also serve as an educational platform for USF students."
The Power Center for Utility Explorations (PCUE) at the University of South Florida is the group performing the design, installation, modeling and simulation. PCUE Director Alex Domijan and Assistant Director Arif Islam will seek to transform this pilot effort into a practical application for other utilities to emulate for the benefit of their customers. The use of renewable energy sources will advance the state-of-art reduction of the carbon footprint and mitigate climate change with widespread use of an installed system.
