Southern Company, one of the US’ largest electric utility and the owner of the two most polluting power plants in the country, announced today that they are bringing online a new Tesla Powerpack station to test the deployment of energy storage.

They inaugurated the new 250 kW/1 MWh Tesla Powerpack system at Gulf Power’s Douglas L. McCrary Training and Storm Center in Pensacola, Florida.

In a press release, Southern Company referred to the project as representing “another important milestone in the company’s work to build the future of energy.”

Southern Company Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Kimberly S. Greene commented at the unveiling:

“At Southern Company, we are constantly broadening our industry-leading expertise to harness new technologies that can deliver clean, safe, reliable, affordable energy to customers. This collaborative research project with Gulf Power will deepen our understanding of battery energy storage systems and the value they can provide.”

They released a few pictures of the event and the new project:

Gulf Power and Southern Company executives and experts hosted a commissioning and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the McCrary Battery Energy Storage Demonstration. (l-r) Steve Baxley, Southern Company Research and Development; Stan Connally, Gulf Power Chairman, President, and CEO; Kim Greene, Chief Operating Officer, Southern Company; Carl Jackson, Research and Development research engineer at Southern Company; and Wendell Smith, Gulf Power Vice President, Customer Service and Sales. (PRNewsfoto/Southern Company) Gulf Power and Southern Company executives and experts hosted a commissioning and ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the McCrary Battery Energy Storage Demonstration designed to help industrial and commercial customers store and use energy on demand, while improving resiliency and potentially helping customers save on energy cost in the future. (PRNewsfoto/Southern Company)

The project is small in size, especially compared to Tesla’s recent Powerpack projects like its massive 100/129 MWh Powerpack system in Australia, but it is being used as a test bed for potential future deployment by Southern Company, which is one of the biggest utility in the US.

They wrote in the press release:

“Specifically, the project aims to further the understanding of the siting, installation and operational requirements of commercial- and industrial-scale energy storage systems. It will provide information on the advantages battery storage can offer customers and energy providers through peak shaving, demand management, ancillary services, energy arbitrage and backup power.”

Hopefully, it could result in Southern Company closing some highly polluting peaker plants at some point in the future.

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