The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) will begin operations this summer of the state’s first jointly implemented fleet of grid-scale battery energy storage systems (BESS).
MMWEC selected Lightshift Energy as its exclusive partner for the project, which involves 50 megawatts (MW) of BESS across the utility’s membership. This includes half of all municipal utilities in the state and nearly 200,000 customers.
“MMWEC is pleased to partner with Lightshift Energy on this battery energy storage system project,” says MMWEC Chief Executive Officer Ronald C. DeCurzio. “The project demonstrates yet again how the municipal utilities are leading the way in decarbonization in Massachusetts, in alignment with the Commonwealth’s emissions reduction targets.”
As part of the agreement, participating utilities within MMWEC’s membership will host one or more Lightshift energy storage projects.
Lightshift says the energy storage deployment will lower utility costs by approximately $200 million, with cost savings driven by peak shaving activities. Lightshift’s systems will be charged during periods of lower energy consumption and discharged during times of peak energy demand.
With four projects under construction in the towns of Groton, Holden and Paxton, the initial phase of projects is set to begin operations this summer. Late-stage development activities are underway in the towns of Peabody, Shrewsbury, Wakefield, Chicopee, Ipswich and Princeton, and mid-stage development activities are progressing in several other communities. The growing portfolio is scheduled to come online throughout 2024 and 2025, according to the developer.
The Groton and Wakefield projects, among others, will integrate direct resilience benefits through backup power to critical infrastructure.
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