OREANDA-NEWS. Continuing its mission to deliver comprehensive energy storage solutions, GE (NYSE: GE) today announced it will provide Coachella Energy Storage Partners (CESP) with a 30-MW battery energy storage system as part of CESP’s supply contract with the Imperial Irrigation District (IID). Representing GE’s largest energy storage project to date, the plant will be located in California’s Imperial Valley, approximately 100 miles east of San Diego. The facility will aid grid flexibility and increase reliability on the IID network by providing solar ramping, frequency regulation, power balancing and black start capability for an adjacent gas turbine.

“We chose GE as the energy storage system provider for this project because they supplied the most comprehensive solution at a competitive price,” said Mike Abatti, president of CESP. “GE is well-positioned to serve the needs of the project and will remain a stable, reliable technology provider as the energy storage industry evolves.”

GE will provide CESP with an integrated energy storage solution, configured using GE’s Mark* VI plant controls, GE Brilliance* MW inverters, GE Prolec transformers, medium-voltage switchgear and advanced lithium ion batteries housed in a GE purpose-built enclosure. The plant will be operated by ZGlobal, an engineering collaborator with CESP, for the first 18 months, after which control will transfer to the IID.

“This project is a game changer to the energy industry and will be one of the largest battery storage plants in the western United States,” said Ziad Alaywan, P.E., a California energy veteran and president & CEO of ZGlobal Inc. “We are confident in GE’s technology and look forward to a successful project.”

The deal marks GE’s third project using lithium ion battery technology since expanding its portfolio in recent months, joining recent announcements with Con Edison Development in California and Convergent Energy + Power in Ontario. 

“While we always strive to provide competitive pricing, what really differentiates GE is the fact that we listen to our customers and help craft a customized energy storage strategy,” said Anne McEntee, president and CEO of GE’s renewable energy business. “We focus on full system performance rather than individual component pieces, allowing customers to match power production with demand in real time and utilize grid assets more efficiently.”

GE anticipates project construction will begin early next year, with commercial operation scheduled for the third quarter of 2016.

About Coachella Energy Storage Partners and ZGlobal, Inc.

Mike Abatti is a resident of the Imperial Valley and was previously elected and served on The Imperial Irrigation District Board. Mike formed CESP to strengthen local interest in developing new and innovative ways to maintain cost effective solution to the local utility (IID). ZGlobal, Inc. was retained by CESP to perform and approve all engineering, project management technical and implementation activities. ZGlobal, Inc. is a local engineering firm with deep roots in the California and western electricity system since the mid-1980s.

About GE

GE (NYSE: GE) imagines things others don’t, builds things others can’t and delivers outcomes that make the world work better. GE brings together the physical and digital worlds in ways no other company can. In its labs and factories and on the ground with customers, GE is inventing the next industrial era to move, power, build and cure the world. 

About GE Power & Water

GE Power & Water provides customers with a broad array of power generation, energy delivery and water process technologies to solve their challenges locally. Power & Water works in all areas of the energy industry including renewable resources such as wind and solar; biogas and alternative fuels; and coal, oil, natural gas and nuclear energy. The business also develops advanced technologies to help solve the world’s most complex challenges related to water availability and quality. Power & Water’s six business units include Distributed Power, Nuclear Energy, Power Generation Products, Power Generation Services, Renewable Energy and Water & Process Technologies. Headquartered in Schenectady, N.Y., Power & Water is GE’s largest industrial business.