Lincoln Electric System Issues Energy Storage Request For Proposals

Nebraska public power utility Lincoln Electric System (LES) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for an energy storage project to be located within the LES service territory.

The RFP seeks proposals for a 10-year power purchase agreement for both lithium-ion projects with a nominal rating up to three megawatts over four hours, and energy storage projects that utilize technologies other than lithium-ion batteries, with a preference for a nominal rating of at least 250 kilowatts and duration of two hours or more. 

The energy storage project is expected to provide several benefits to LES and the surrounding system and will be dispatched accordingly.

The energy storage project is intended to help support:

• Local transmission and distribution system reliability during periods of peak demand;
• Load-related energy arbitrage in the Southwest Power Pool (SPP) market;
• Regional SPP system reliability via load-related ancillary services;
• A LES-operated community microgrid that reinforces the resiliency of critical community infrastructure, and;
• Further development of energy storage knowledge and experience within LES.

“The energy storage system will only be required to operate in a grid-tied configuration; even during microgrid operations, an existing utility-scale generator will provide for system load balancing and voltage and frequency regulation,” the RFP noted.

LES’ preference is for proposals to have a commercial operation date of not later than December 31, 2022, although later dates may be considered.

Responses to the RFP are due by Nov. 2, 2021, and additional information is available here .