WILLIAMSPORT, Md., May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Potomac Edison,
a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), has received approval
from the Maryland Public Service Commission for two battery energy
storage projects in Allegany and
Frederick counties, the latter of
which will be paired with a new electric vehicle (EV) fast-charging
station.
Potomac Edison proposed the two projects in response to the
state's Energy Storage Pilot Program, which was established in 2019
to examine new technologies that could have a transformative impact
on electric distribution systems. The program required all
investor-owned electric utilities to submit at least two energy
storage proposals for the commission's consideration.
"These two projects will allow us to evaluate the potential
benefits of energy storage for our residential customers and to
learn more about the interaction between energy storage systems and
electric vehicle charging stations, which will help inform future
grid development efforts," said James A.
Sears, Jr., president of FirstEnergy's Maryland operations.
A 1.75-megawatt battery energy storage project in Allegany County, located on National Pike in
Little Orleans, will be designed
to provide back-up power to more than 1,000 customers in
Allegany and Washington counties during outages, enhancing
service reliability in an area west of the town of Hancock.
Potomac Edison plans to partner with storage developer
Convergent Energy + Power on the project, which will allow Potomac
Edison to determine best practices for engineering and operating a
battery energy storage system as a reliability solution and will
provide an opportunity for the company to learn more about its
potential benefits.
Potomac Edison also will install a battery energy storage system
at the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) Park and Ride
Lot in Urbana, located in
Frederick County. The project will
be adjacent to a new Potomac Edison electric vehicle (EV)
fast-charging station at the Park and Ride Lot, located near the
Interstate 270 and Route 80 interchange, and will bundle battery
energy storage with EV charging.
Owned and operated by Potomac Edison, the $1.1 million system will include a 500-kilowatt
battery that provides uninterruptable electric vehicle charging and
reduces the load drawn from the grid by the charging station during
peak demand times. Because fast-charging stations create
significant demand on electric distribution grids, the bundling of
the storage system with a fast charger will allow Potomac Edison to
study how energy storage can help minimize the impact of such
demand spikes on its distribution network.
In the event of an outage, the Urbana fast-charging station will be able to
run off of battery-supplied energy. The battery system is expected
to provide 1,000 kilowatt hours of energy, equal to approximately
eight hours of uninterrupted EV charging.
Both projects are expected to be complete in 2022.
Potomac Edison recently installed its first fast-charging
stations in Maryland as part of
its EV Driven pilot program, a five-year Maryland Public Service
Commission-approved program designed to benefit the state's
environment by reducing auto emissions and supporting Maryland's goal to reach 300,000 zero-emission
vehicles on the road by 2025. Over the course of the program,
Potomac Edison will install 59 charging stations, including 20
fast-charging stations, across its seven-county Maryland territory.
Potomac Edison serves about 275,000 customers in all or parts of
Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett, Howard, Montgomery, and Washington counties. Follow Potomac Edison at
www.potomacedison.com, on Twitter @PotomacEdison, and on Facebook
at www.facebook.com/PotomacEdison.
FirstEnergy is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability and
operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies form
one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems,
serving customers in Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West
Virginia, Maryland and
New York. The company's
transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of
transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com and
on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.