LG CNS to deliver 40 MW of storage to Guam Power Authority

In what is seen as its largest storage project to date, Korea’s LG CNS was awarded a $43 million contract by the Guam Power Authority (GPA), the electricity generator and distributor for the residents of the U.S. island territory of Guam to deliver, operate and maintain two utility-scale storage systems with a total capacity of 40 MW.

The deployment of the storage systems is expected to reduce the intermittent power outages that the Pacific island of Guam has been experiencing from net metering penetration and utility-scale renewable energy projects, as well as help the GPA prepare the grid for reaching the 25 % renewable goal by 2035.

“This investment will help alleviate system frequency issues, forced outages and support renewable integration,” said John M. Benavente, P.E. General Manager of Guam Power Authority. “Our ratepayers typically experience short outages whenever a generator trips in the system in order for us to avoid a blackout. It is estimated the ESS would eliminate about 77% of those outages, thereby substantially improving service reliability to our ratepayers.”

Under the deal, the project development arm of LG CNS will deploy on a “turnkey” basis within 12 months a 24 MW storage system for frequency regulation at a substation in the village of Agana, and a 16 MW storage system for renewable integration at a substation in the village of Talofofo, which is connected to an existing solar farm. Consequently, the island will join the growing global microgrid market.

Meanwhile, energy storage markets in the U.S.  continue to grow rapidly during Q1 with 71 MW deployed and a 276% increase over the respective period in 2016. By 2022, GTM Research expects annual U.S. energy storage deployments to reach 2.6 GW, increasing the market’s worth to $3.2 billion.