It doesn’t look like much now — a few excavators pushing around dirt — but soon it will be a battery storage facility to help offset the demand on our system.
The Substation Battery Program, through our power supplier, Wabash Valley Power Alliance (WVPA), will see 2-5 MW-rated batteries installed at five of Noble REMC’s substations.
The batteries will capture energy at times of low demand, when fewer people are using electricity and costs are lower. Then, when demand is high and a lot of electricity is being used by our members, we can deploy those batteries to meet that extra need while keeping costs lower.
For example, the battery storage planned for our Albion Substation is rated for 2 MW for four hours, which will have the ability to power 1,100 homes.
Noble REMC and WVPA are investing in this technology to ensure we keep rates as low as possible as we deal with ever-increasing demand on our grid.
Our duty as an electric cooperative is to keep power reliable and affordable for our members, and we take that seriously. Noble REMC members haven’t experienced a rate increase in 10 years. This project is another piece in that mission— to save our members money during times of high demand.