OREANDA-NEWS. GE Energy Storage (NYSE: GE) today announced that it will participate in a load-shifting project at Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, Calif., a non-profit education organization. The 500-kilowatt-hour GE storage and Princeton Power Systems (PPS) inverter control system is engineered to shift 10-20 percent of the science center’s daily electrical load from peak hours to less expensive off-peak time periods. The system also will provide backup power in the event of power outages.

Discovery Science Center expects to see an immediate reduction in its electrical bill. “As a dynamic science center, we are eager to demonstrate technologies that can reduce our energy cost while adding to the reliability of the electric grid,” said Kellee Preston, vice president of operations, Discovery Science Center. “We’ll be able to use the system to increase outreach on energy issues and better explain the benefits that storage can bring to the electric grid system.”

The project is part of California’s “Permanent Load Shift” program, a statewide effort to reduce peak demand on the California electrical grid. Southern California Edison will manage the project for the science center. The winning GE Energy Storage and PPS proposal focused on the cost-effectiveness of pairing a Durathon* Energy Storage System with PPS’s advanced inverter and control system.

“We have worked with Southern California Edison on past projects. In working on this RFP with GE Energy Storage, we have confidence knowing our hardware/software solution and GE’s energy storage system perform well in this type of load-shifting application,” said Ken McCauley, CEO, PPS. “The system’s reliability and multifaceted safety features also were an important factor.”

“Unlike traditional, thermal-based energy storage technologies, battery-based energy storage systems can be used by a much wider range of customers,” says Prescott Logan, general manager, GE Energy Storage. “This type of project will demonstrate that battery-based load-shifting technology can enable customers to meet demand responses, as well as permanently shift a significant percentage of daily electrical loads to non-critical hours.”

Logan added, “We believe there is a huge potential for solutions like the one we’ve been developing with PPS across North America and worldwide.”

Both Discovery Science Center and Southern California Edison will monitor the performance of the system and use it to assess how remote storage system deployment can improve the performance of distribution networks.