The battery storage capabilities enable the jail to purchase power during non-peak hours from the local utility and store the reserves—a process that will end up saving the jail nearly $100,000 dollars per year.

CHICAGO, May 2, 2012 -- S&C Electric Company, a global leader in smart grid solutions and renewable energy integration, today announces the completion of an energy storage project at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Calif. The new energy storage solution features S&C's PureWave® Storage Management System and helps integrate on-site renewable energy sources and storage at the facility. The battery storage capabilities enable the jail to purchase power during non-peak hours from the local utility and store the reserves—a process that will end up saving the jail nearly $100,000 dollars per year.

The energy storage system is a key component of the jail's smart microgrid that was engineered and built by Chevron Energy Solutions. The microgrid serves a correctional facility that covers 113 acres and combines solar, wind, and fuel cell energy sources, along with emergency diesel backup, to generate electricity for the facility, which uses 3 MW of electricity daily. During times when the facility is islanded from the local utility grid, the energy storage system balances the microgrid's load with the total power generated from on-site sources by automatically and instantly storing any energy generated in excess of the load requirements. The energy storage system also supplies electricity if demand exceeds what the onsite generation sources are generating.

To add the needed energy balancing to the microgrid, S&C provided a 2-MW PureWave® Storage Management System to control the charging and discharging of lithium-ion batteries.

"With the stored energy system, the Santa Rita Jail can use on-site renewable generation to power the facility in the event of a power disruption on the utility grid," says Jim Sember, S&C Vice President—Power Quality Products.

The energy storage system assures that these intermittent and diverse green energy sources will provide reliable and stable generation for the jail for up to eight hours until utility power is restored or back-up diesel generators are brought online.

"The PureWave SMS controls allow the system to function as a 'swing machine' to pick up the differences in real and reactive power and thus buffer the effects that intermittent generation might otherwise have on the microgrid," Sember says.

S&C's PureWave SMS features advanced control algorithms that allow the SMS to automatically pick up or shed load for the various generation sources without a system-level master control, which would add cost and complexity. The stored energy system also allows the facility to charge the batteries when electricity is inexpensive, and use them to supply electricity during peak hours when costs are high.

About S&C Electric Company
S&C, with global headquarters in Chicago, USA, is applying its heritage of innovation to address challenges facing the world's power grids and is thus shaping the future of reliable electricity delivery. The mission of employee-owned S&C is to continually develop new solutions for electricity delivery, fostering the improved efficiency and reliability required for the intelligent grid. Additional information about S&C is available at www.sandc.com.