On National Battery Day, PSEG Long Island Celebrates New Ways to Strengthen the Grid

Bulk energy storage and customer-owned solar-battery storage systems can provide emergency capacity during times of high demand

(UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Feb. 17, 2022) – On National Battery Day, Feb. 18, PSEG Long Island celebrates the ways in which batteries are helping to ensure that all of its customers have sufficient electric supply during times of peak demand.

“Batteries can be small, like what you put in your TV remote, medium-sized, like what homeowners use to store energy from their rooftop solar, or very large, like the commercial battery storage units that ensure the East End has sufficient electric supply during times of peak demand,” said Paul Napoli, PSEG Long Island’s vice president of Power Markets. “In the latter two cases, batteries are actually helping all of us stay cool in the summer without having to purchase more generation capacity from fossil fuel-burning power plants.”

PSEG Long Island residential customers who have rooftop solar and battery storage can get paid for allowing their batteries to feed the grid during times of peak demand — a few times during the summer each year. This additional capacity allows PSEG Long Island to purchase less power from fossil fuel-burning power plants.

With at least 850 solar and battery storage systems installed in the service area, PSEG Long Island encourages customers to sign up for its program. To learn more about PSEG Long Island’s energy storage rewards, visit https://www.psegliny.com/saveenergyandmoney/greenenergy/solarstorage/energystoragerewards.

“We truly do have reason to celebrate batteries, because they are the bridge between these home solar arrays and our grid,” said Michael Voltz, PSEG Long Island’s director of Energy Efficiency and Renewables. “They enable us to harness a small amount of the energy those panels collect and utilize it in a way that can lower bills for every one of our 1.1 million customers.”

Additionally, PSEG Long Island has been adding bulk energy storage — giant, house-sized batteries — to its portfolio of energy resources in order to help meet New York State’s ambitious emissions reduction targets.

At PSEG Long Island’s recommendation, LIPA awarded two contracts in 2016 to companies that built these bulk storage units in East Hampton and Montauk, to accommodate the growing electric demand on the East End. Each of these units can feed a maximum 5 MW of electricity into the grid for eight consecutive hours before recharging. Together, that’s the equivalent of powering 8,000 homes for eight hours. The units replaced multiple portable, compressed natural gas-burning generators that previously were needed to support peak demand on the East End in the summer months.

“This is just the beginning of the role batteries will play in the green energy future of Long Island and the Rockaways,” said Napoli. “We have already put out to bid a request for up to 175 MW more bulk battery storage to come online by the end of 2025, and we plan to issue a request for at least another 175 MW to come into service before 2030.”

The Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act calls for 6,000 MW of battery storage to be online, statewide, by 2030.

To learn more about green energy solutions available to PSEG Long Island customers, visit https://www.psegliny.com/saveenergyandmoney/greenenergy.

National Battery Day is observed on Feb. 18, the birthday of Alessandro Volta, the Italian scientist who created the first battery in 1800.

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PSEG Long Island operates the Long Island Power Authority’s transmission and distribution system under a long-term contract. PSEG Long Island is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (PSEG) (NYSE:PEG), a publicly traded diversified energy company.