Fortress Power batteries used to address need during peak demand periods
LANGHORNE, PA (AUGUST 30, 2023) >> Fortress Power is excited to participate in Puerto Rico’s Battery Emergency Demand Response program and provide more value to customers via EnergyBroker.
EnergyBroker allows users to turn their solar investment into a revenue-generating vehicle by authorizing Fortress Power to sell excess energy to the utility. By opting into the EnergyBroker program, customers realize rapid return on their investment via reimbursement for energy supplied back to the overworked electrical grid. Fortress Power compensates customers directly by check, not merely providing credit towards future utility bills.
The energy grid in Puerto Rico has been particularly taxed since Hurricane Maria struck the island in 2017. Power outages have become regular occurrences, especially when demand for electricity is particularly high, such as on hotter days and often in the late afternoon. People get home from school or work and start running various devices – cooking dinner, turning up the air conditioners, etc. The electricity grid cannot accommodate the higher demand in all regions and becomes less stable.
When the demand is too high, the utility can’t source enough energy and must resort to rolling blackouts. With the Battery Emergency Demand Response (BEDR) program, LUMA, Puerto Rico’s electric utility requests that participating systems dispense, or “return” surplus energy to avoid these blackouts.
Fortress Power and BEDR
Fortress Power is supporting LUMA’s development of BEDR program. Fortress Power customers who enroll with EnergyBroker will allow extra battery capacity to be dispatched to reduce the demand on the grid. Fortress Power tracks the amount of energy each home provides and sends a quarterly check to customers compensating them for their contribution.
Participants in the EnergyBroker program receive notifications requesting the dispersal of stored energy from their batteries during periods of high demand.
Fortress Power will not discharge the battery below a level of the customer’s choosing, and customers have the ability to deny a request at any time for any reason if they do not wish to dispense their stored energy.
Furthermore, Fortress Power will not request stored energy when any severe weather, such as tropical storms or hurricanes, are forecast. Fortress Power prioritizes the need for each customer to maintain resilience.
“This program is essential for cost effectively strengthening Puerto Rico’s grid. The island is becoming a model for using distributed energy resources to benefit all rate payers. It will pay dividends as energy prices drop and Puerto Rico archives its renewable energy goals,” says Brian London, Fortress Power’s vice president of energy services.
“It’s really a case of neighbors with systems helping neighbors without them. Everyone benefits through this program.”
In addition to reducing most customers’ electricity costs, programs like the BEDR have the added benefit of reducing pollution. Instead of running extremely dirty, inefficient, oil-fired power plants, the utilities dispatch energy generated via solar. As utilities increase the usage of these programs, the solar and energy storage systems have a much bigger impact than they do alone.
For more information on Fortress Power’s EnergyBroker program, visit our EnergyBroker Page.
