Reading Municipal Light Department Details New 5-MW Battery Storage Project

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
April 19, 2022

Reading Municipal Light Department’s (RMLD) Citizens’ Advisory Board and Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the RMLD to enter into a purchase power energy agreement with Kearsarge Energy for a battery storage system in Wilmington that will be capable of discharging five megawatts over two hours.

The system will be used to reduce costs related to peak demand and is projected to average $200,000 in annual savings for the RMLD during the 20-year project lifetime.  The system is expected to be installed in 2023.

The battery project will be collocated with the existing 2.1-megawatt RMLD Community Solar array that is also owned and operated by Kearsage Energy.  

This project adds to RMLD’s existing battery storage capability, including the Minuteman system, also a 5-megawatt, 2 hours system located in North Reading.

RMLD plans to add a total 30-megawatts/90 megawatt-hours of battery storage to RMLD’s service area over the next three years to further reduce costs and increase the resiliency of our distribution network.

The American Public Power Association’s Public Power Energy Tracker is a resource for association members that summarizes public power energy storage projects that are currently online. The tracker is available here.