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Alevo and Customized Energy Solutions Announce Largest Ever US Energy Storage Deployment

February 17, 2015 / Press Release

Operational arrangement to provide frequency regulation to ISOs across the United States

Alevo Group, a leading Energy Storage Provider, today announced that it has signed a joint operational agreement with Customized Energy Solutions (CES), a leading energy services company, to provide 200MW of GridBankTM-powered frequency regulation services to the wholesale energy market. This represents the largest ever energy storage deployment in the United States of America.

As one of the world’s premier providers of wholesale energy market operations services, CES works with eight Independent Systems Operators (ISOs) in the U.S. and Canada to provide energy services to more than 350 customers. Under the terms of the joint operational agreement, Alevo will work with CES’ emerging technologies team to deliver 200MW of energy storage capacity that will be distributed across its operational network.

Energy storage technology is rapidly becoming a mainstream solution for a variety of grid services including frequency regulation, peak-shaving and renewables capture. This has been enabled by the reduction in battery costs, dramatic improvement in battery performance and the redesign of tariff structures to better monetize the benefits of storage technologies.

“This is a critical juncture in the integration of battery storage into the market, transitioning from pilot projects to grid-scale commercially viable installations,” explained Judith Judson, Director of Emerging Technologies, CES. “Storage can provide huge value across the electric grid in terms of increased efficiency and reduced costs, but the challenge has been monetizing the benefits. Alevo is a forward-thinking company with an exciting new battery chemistry and aggressive growth goals.”

Maintaining stable frequency on the grid is a critical challenge for the operators of electricity grids around the world. The provision of fast-reacting power resources, such as the Alevo GridBankTM, to manage grid stability is a natural fit for energy storage, particularly following federally-mandated changes to energy markets that reward resources that can react at a moment’s notice.

“The major expansion of projects deployed in ISO markets continues to prove the benefits and commercial applications for readiness of energy storage,” explained Jostein Eikeland, CEO, Alevo. “Our operational agreement with Customized Energy Solutions is a milestone for Alevo and testament to the proven performance attributes of our battery technology, which offers a superior value proposition for grid applications. The longevity and performance characteristics of the technology allow us to deploy projects in multiple ISO markets that earlier technologies have not been able to profitably address.”

*Editors Notes

A number of regions – including the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, much of the Midwest, Texas, California and portions of Canada – organize their markets under an independent system operator (ISO) – sometimes also referred to as a regional transmission organization (RTO). Most states in these regions also allow for retail competition. By adopting this ISO/RTO structure, these regions have moved to expand competition in electricity. In fact, two-thirds of the electricity consumed in the U.S. is by consumers in an ISO/RTO. The eight ISOs are as follows – PJM, MISO, NYISO, ERCOT, SPP, IESO, ISONE and CAISO.

About Alevo

Alevo is a leading provider of energy storage systems designed to deliver grid-scale electricity on demand. Its innovative battery technology and GridBanks enable new source-agnostic architecture for electrical grids that reduce waste, greenhouse gases and other emissions, create efficiencies and lower costs for the world’s energy producers. Founded in 2009, Alevo Group is headquartered in Martigny, Switzerland.

About Customized Energy Solutions

Established in 1998, Customized Energy Solutions assists clients in managing and staying ahead of the changes in the wholesale and retail electricity and natural gas markets. Serving hundreds of clients, Customized Energy Solutions offers best-in-class hosted energy market operations platforms and services.