The firm is already working with customers in North America, with plans to have the product commercially available in the region by April next year. Twitter: NEC Energy Solutions
NEC Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of IT and network integration firm NEC Corporation, has unveiled a new distributed energy storage product for commercial and industrial (C&I) customers.
The technology comes with lithium-ion battery storage and power conversion along with controls software, all available in a range of scales for both in-front-of or behind-the-meter applications.
Roger Lin, marketing director at NEC Energy Solutions, told Energy Storage News that the product for sub-1MWh applications will help companies expand their portfolio through energy storage at the edge of grid, but removing the technology risk by providing guarantees and 10-year warranties backed by a global Fortune 500 company. The solution also aims to simplify the deployment of energy storage-based services.
The firm is already working with customers in North America, with plans to have the product commercially available in the region by April next year.
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Lin added: “We are looking at demand charge reduction in the US where demand charges can be 50% or more of the C&I customers utility bill.”
A global roll out will follow by the end of 2017 with certifications already in the works for the Asia Pacific region. A particular focus will be on countries with some level of reliance on energy storage for remote, off-grid or weak-grid locations.
NEC is also working with UK-based renewables firm Open Energi to provide demand side response to enable more solar PV and wind generation to participate in the market.
Lin said a major benefit is the architecture of the solution, which is configurable to the need of the customer, whether it be for demand charge reduction or renewable energy integration. The DSS platform is scalable from 85kWh to 510kWh of energy storage capacity, and from 30kW up to 650kW of power.
Lin said: “We are enabling these companies to create their own advanced energy services; new business models. We are taking the technology risk out of energy storage for those folks so they can be confident that whatever they offer in terms of energy storage-based service they are backed and warrantied by a large company.
“We will be going out with a fairly competitive price on the unit so we feel that we will enable a lot more of the business models to close than other companies have been able to in the past.”
The solution includes NEC’s AEROS controls software package, which allows the platform to switch from cost savings by demand charge management to revenue earning by providing system services.
Bud Collins, chief executive of NEC Energy Solutions, said: “We have long understood the value of energy storage at the edge of the grid. Our new DSS platform enables our customers to easily offer a host of new energy management services to their C&I enterprises in the sub-megawatt scale. The platform takes away the complexity of energy storage system design while offering safety and reliability, allowing our customers to focus on creating new energy management business models.”
The DSS platform will be sold and supported by a global partner network with expertise in renewable energy, energy management, power quality, microgrids and energy development.
NEC has already provided energy storage at utility-scale in a number of locations.
