EVLO Energy Storage Inc., a subsidiary of Hydro-Québec, plans to install 16 of its energy storage system units in the Northeast Kingdom this year.
The project, which will be based in the Orleans County town of Troy, is the first battery system that EVLO plans to install in the United States.
The technology in the batteries — called EVLO 1000s — works by storing power during strong energy production times so it can be used during times of peak energy demand. As a result, the batteries lower rates for utility companies by making energy more accessible at critical times.
“We’ve been focusing on utility scale projects with battery safety at the center of our design and being able to deploy them in the United States is a game changer,” said Martin Rheault, EVLO’s vice president of business development and sales.
The EVLO project has an energy storage capacity of 12 megawatt hours. In comparison, an average homeowner uses roughly half a megawatt hour of energy in an entire month, according to a June 2023 EnergyBot study.
The batteries are set up to store energy from a nearby wind farm, Rheault said.
Troy is located in the Sheffield-Highgate Export Interface, an area of Vermont’s electric grid in the northern tier of the state, said Peter Sterling, executive director of Renewable Energy Vermont. A lot of renewable power is generated in and transmitted out of that area because of the location of transmission lines.
This project, and others like it, could expand the capacity for additional in-state renewable energy, Sterling said.
“Projects like EVLO are key to deploying more renewable energy in Vermont,” he said. “Without them, we will not get towards our goal towards 100% renewable energy because we need to be able to store renewable energy as it’s generated.”
Hydro-Québec, EVLO’s parent company, is a major distributor of electricity in Canada, focusing mainly on hydroelectricity, according to its website. It is the largest power utility in North America.
Hydro-Québec has been a key contributor to New England energy systems for several decades and signed its first longtime contract with Vermont in 1987. In 2010, the company signed a deal with the state, committing to deliver a volume of energy equivalent to about 25% of the state’s annual electricity needs by 2038.
The EVLO project includes a $2 million cost-share partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy through a research initiative seeking to develop nationwide solutions for renewable energy demand.
The project is on track to be commissioned by the end of 2023, and EVLO has agreed to monitor and maintain the system for the coming 20 years.
Many new energy projects are incentivized by the Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed in 2022, Sterling said.
The federal law allows for an investment tax credit of 30% and production tax credit of $0.0275 per kilowatt hour, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This tax credit also is applicable to international companies.
“We’re seeing an explosion in energy projects because they’ve become a lot more financially feasible thanks to the support of the federal government,” Sterling said.
As such, many organizations in Vermont are tapping into their own energy storage technology — particularly Green Mountain Power.
Last year, the utility expanded its battery capacities by adding 25 megawatts of energy storage to its preexisting 30 megawatts. The company is installing facilities in Georgia, Springfield, Bethel, Middlebury, Bristol and Barre.
