Top

Arizona utility taps storage over traditional grid upgrade

August 15, 2017

Arizona Public Service is installing a 2 MW, 8 MWh battery storage system instead of rebuilding about 20 miles of transmission and distribution poles and wires.

It is the first time that APS, an investor-owned utility, has used energy storage as an alternative to traditional infrastructure, but it will not be the last, Scott Bordenkircher, director of transmission and distribution technology innovation and integration at APS, says.

Bordenkircher says the storage system, which is being installed as an alternative to upgrading a distribution line, will increase reliability in Punkin Center, Ariz., a growing community of 600 people in the Tonto National Forest about 90 minutes northeast of Phoenix.

Read More on AmericanPublicPower