A new battery storage system that can instantly provide 10 megawatts of electricity to the grid in the event of a generation plant failure, has won an award for Belco.

The Nolan Smith Battery Energy Storage System is a standby facility for Belco. If there is a system fault it kicks in and delivers electricity to the grid to fill the gap. It does this three times faster than can be achieved by a standard engine powering up to generate the additional electricity.

It won the Best Energy Storage Project award at the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum, which is the largest annual gathering of the Caribbean clean energy market.

Dennis Pimentel, Belco president, praised the working group team involved, and said: “The BESS is an exciting project that is just a part of the foundation we are building for a better energy future for Bermuda, our $200 million-plus capital plan that has one overriding objective, to better serve our customers with safe, efficient and cost-effective electricity.”

The reserve capacity storage system covers an area of 2,000 sq ft, with ISO containers and transformers. The containers hold the battery cells and other equipment involved in the system, which has a 20-year operating life. When the battery cells reach the end of their life, they will be shipped back to the US to be recycled.

The storage system has been dedicated to the late Nolan Smith, a Bermudian who worked for Belco for more than 30 years and specialised in transmission and distribution system analysis.