175 MW Energy Storage Project Launched In Maine

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We seem to be in a period of questionable energy practices here in the US with the continued usage of old and aging coal power plants, despite the fact that overreliance on coal is bad for climate change and coal combustion generates toxic air pollution that harms people.

One alternative is to use large battery systems to draw grid electricity during low usage times to use later for high usage times and to provide backup electricity when it is needed — during an outage for example.

The Cross Town energy storage site in Gorham, Maine, reportedly has 350 megawatt-hours of storage. The capacity is 175 MW, the duration is about two hours, one source stated. The amount of electricity stored in the new battery system should be enough to provide power to about 19,000 homes. The new system utilizes Sungrow’s flagship PowerTitan batteries.

“In so doing it provides the same fully dispatchable services as a conventional power plant but with no water, no emissions and low lighting and noise,” said Christina Hoffman, Plus Power’s senior director of planning.

Prior to the launching of the new 175 MW energy storage site, Maine had about 63 MW of utility-scale energy storage. The state’s goal is to reach 400 MW of this energy storage type by 2030.

“Maine will keep working toward attracting investments in emerging renewable energy industries. We’ll keep creating great paying green collar jobs and reducing our alliance on expensive fossil fuels and shield Maine from volatile energy costs by supporting projects like this one at Cross Town Energy Storage,” Governor Janet Mills said.

It should be noted these projects create jobs, and jobs that do not expose workers to toxic air pollution. The US is a technology leader, not a tech laggard. American workers both need and deserve to work in healthy conditions. Such energy storage projects can be paired with solar power installations and/or wind power as well.