Organizations need dispatchable energy on demand

A 3rd challenge of the Energy Transition for organizations is their need for energy on demand when their patrons need it. Organizations rely on having readily available, dispatchable energy when it is needed. This need is what drives us to connect nearly everything we build to gas and power lines. We may all curse the transmission and distribution charges on our monthly bills when we get them, but we never curse when we flip a switch the lights come on.

We are frequently asked by customers to evaluate small-scale power generation projects to support their facility’s needs. Small-scale generation projects such as gas, solar or wind will reduce organization’s annual operating expenses and may reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but the savings can take 20+ years to pay back the initial capital for the project.

A client recently asked us to evaluate the return on investment of constructing a hybrid generator system consisting of a 450 kW natural gas generator, 1000 kW solar array and 5.1 MWh battery storage. Our initial evaluation found it would take 23 years to payback. The project as proposed simply could not compete with power from the grid. We worked with the client and proposed removing the gas generator and battery storage from the scope of the project, and a reduction in the size of the solar array. The proposed revisions meant that the facility would remain tied to the power grid, but the payback period was reduce by 10 years and the rate of return increased by 5%. The changes were adopted by the customer and they proceeded with the project.