Forbes features a fantastic writeup on how Avista Utilities is spearheading grid modernization and innovation via its Clean Energy Fund energy storage pilot project with UniEnergy Technologies and the state’s top research institutions.
Peter Kelly-Detwiler reports:
By national standards, Avista Utilities is not a large power utility. The company serves nearly 370,000 electric customers and about 330,000 natural gas customers in a territory encompassing 1.6 million inhabitants, spread out mostly over eastern Washington state and Northern Idaho. By contrast, Con Edison of New York serves over nine million people, while Southern California Edison serves 14 million individuals. But while it may lack size, it does not lack for innovation and initiative. Avista recognizes that the electricity world is changing, and is proactively working to get ahead of the curve where it can.
To that end, the company has made headlines recently for its 1.0 megawatt/3.2 megawatt-hour energy storage project (using a UniEnergy Technologies vanadium flow battery system) out in Pullman, WA, as well as its 423 kW community solar program in the Spokane Valley.