Revolutionizing Solar Farms by Unleashing the Energy Storage Potential of Wiring Infrastructure

Energy storage capacity is paramount to the world's transition to renewable energy sources. This is no small feat. Hundreds of gigawatt hours, which is more than a billion iPhone batteries, are needed to meet our goals. Our question is where is all of that storage going to go? These kinds of large format energy storage systems for solar farms require tens and hundreds of acres of valuable land. More renewables and batteries alone will not solve the toughest challenges limiting the adoption of more sustainable power sources.   

However, there are miles of cables distributed throughout the grid. Especially in solar farms. They are used to transport power between panels, energy storage systems, and to the grid. This inspired us to consider a dramatically different approach to energy storage - turn wiring infrastructure into energy storage assets. Instead of purchasing the land next to a solar farm to install energy storage capacity, why not store it within the existing wiring in the farm? This is a way to make that dream possible, the energy transition easier, and our global energy storage capacity goals feasible.  

For example, let's say there is a 50MW solar farm. That solar farm would have 125 solar trunk busses, which are large cables that distribute ~400kW of power across the farm to its connection points. Turning the solar trunk bus into an energy storage asset too would add over 50MW of peak power capacity from within the existing 125 solar trunk bus connections (approximately 1,250ft of cabling). For this to be done using a battery, it would require about 5 acres of land to deliver the same kind of peak power capacity. 

In a market where energy storage is critical to the utilization and value of solar power, this approach can help providers overcome economic and technical challenges to accelerate mass market adoption of renewables.