Giant Batteries Connected to Grid in Upstate New York

In order to maintain a steady flow of energy in upstate New York as demand for electricity fluctuates over time, AES Energy Storage has installed lithium ion batteries the size of trucks at its Johnson City site in New York.

AES storage, a subsidiary of AES, a power generation company, explained that the first 8 megawatts is now on-line and available to add energy into the power grid to keep an even balance between the supply and demand of electricity in that part of the grid.

The giant batteries store energy which responds to grid operators who send a signal when demand exceeds supply so that the batteries can send a burst of energy for a few seconds to maintain an even flow of energy at all times.

Expectations are that the project will be completed within the year with a final energy capacity of 20 megawatts is expected.