System integrator EVLO Energy Storage (EVLO) has completed commissioning of a 4MW/8MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in American Samoa.
The 2-hour duration BESS marks the first of three projects that EVLO will be commissioning in the territory, in collaboration with solar energy service provider Eastern Power Solutions (EPS).
The projects will be deployed on the islands of Tutuila and Aunu’u. The other two BESS projects will have capacities of 5MW/10MWh and 1MW/2MWh. All three projects will use the EVLO 1000 system, which utilises lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells.
EVLO says that the projects will support ramp rate control to limit fluctuations in solar PV power output, which will help with grid stability.
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EPS was selected by The American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA), a public utility serving approximately 50,000 residents of the territory.
American Samoa uses imported petroleum products for almost all of the island’s needs, including, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), 93% of its electric power generation in 2023.
Additionally, because the island has to import refined oil, the EIA says the average electricity price was about 3.5 times higher than the US average.
American Samoa is located near the equator, making solar energy resources abundant. Solar power made up about 11% of the island’s generating capacity and approximately 3% of its electricity generation in 2023.
In 2016, the American Samoa Renewable Energy Committee (ASREC) set a goal for 100% of American Samoa’s energy to come from renewable energy resources by 2040.
According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) 2023-2024 Energy Baseline Report on American Samoa, the island of Ta’u has had a solar and energy storage system that supplies 100% of its electricity since 2016.
That hybrid system, which came from SolarCity and Tesla, is comprised of a 1.4MW solar installation and a 6MWh battery storage made of 60 Tesla Powerpacks, the smaller predecessor to the technology company’s Megapack for grid-scale applications.
As a whole, American Samoa has several solar and storage projects lined up to reduce its reliance on imported petroleum products.
