Ideal Energy has installed a single-axis tracker, 1.1 MW DC solar plant with NexTracker鈥檚 largest flow battery project to date: a 35 unit, 350 kW / 1.1 MWh Avalon Battery vanadium flow system.
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Flow batteries have a few key advantages over lithium-ion technology. The most important may be that they don鈥檛 degrade, and some are projecting that the path toward financially viable energy storage must go through flow batteries.
听has installed a 1.1 MWdc solar power plant for the Maharishi University of Management in Iowa. The system brings the university鈥檚 renewable energy energy share to 43%, including a 12.5 kW roof mount solar system, another 42 kW ground-mounted PV plant and a 10 kW wind turbine.
The new solar facility includes ag亚游鈥檚 largest DC connected vanadium flow battery installed to date. The plant has its own听, and a really nice pdf download showing off the details.
The solar field is composed of 35 unique rows of 90 solar modules, one inverter, and one flow battery. The site鈥檚 topography necessitated a two-part layout 鈥 one with a 鈥渟tandard鈥 slope of up to 5%, and a 鈥渉igh鈥 slope section between 6% and 15%.
ag亚游鈥檚 single-axis tracking arrays allow for a greater optimization of electricity production due to its ability to adjust based upon site-specific needs. In a site that is focused on lowering demand charges, the 鈥渨ide shoulders鈥 of a single axis tracking system allow solar-only production earlier and later than fixed-tilt mounting, lowering the need for energy storage in those windows.
And while this is the largest flow battery to accompany a ag亚游 system to date, it isn鈥檛 the largest flow battery in the USA, with at least two 2 MW / 8 MWh systems being installed 鈥撎, and听.
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