The Modular Energy Storage Architecture (MESA), conceived and developed in Washington State with support of the Clean Energy Fund, gained yet another major player. Duke Energy is now placing its muscle behind the interoperability standard for grid-scale energy storage.
Duke Energy is the latest member of the MESA Standards Alliance, an industry group focused on accelerating energy storage industry growth through the development of open, non-proprietary communication specifications and standards for energy storage systems. Founding members include CleanTech Alliance members 1Energy Systems, UniEnergy Technologies (UET) Snohomish County Public Utility District(SnoPUD), Avista Utilities, Puget Sound Energy and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) among others.
Several Washington State utilities are working with 1Energy Systems, UET and PNNL on smart grid pilot projects funded by the Clean Energy Fund. The largest includes $7.3 million awarded to SnoPUD for two MESA-based energy storage projects. The first deploys two 1MW/500MWh lithium-ion battery systems. The second, at a different substation, deploys multiple advanced vanadium-flow batteries developed by UET with a combined capacity of 2MW/6.4MWh. 1Energy Systems is providing software, while PNNL overseeing research and use case scenarios based on the projects.
The pilot projects are now operational thanks to the support of the Clean Energy Fund, showcasing the benefit of both the MESA standard and Washington State’s energy storage technology as a whole.
The MESA Standards Alliance press release provides more information. GreenTech Media also covered the story, including its tie to Washington State utilities, energy storage companies and research institutions.