Black Start

Storage systems provide an active reserve of power and energy within the grid and can be used to energize transmission and distribution lines and provide station power to bring power plants on line after a catastrophic failure of the grid. Golden Valley Electric Association uses the battery system in Fairbanks for this service when there is an outage of the transmission intertie with Anchorage. The operation of the battery is illustrated in Figure 8, which shows its discharge to provide charging current to two transmission paths as needed, as well as start-up power to two diesel power plants that serve Fairbanks until the intertie is restored.

Storage can provide similar startup power to larger power plants, if the storage system is suitably sited and there is a clear transmission path to the power plant from the storage system’s location.

Technical Considerations

Storage System Size Range: 5 – 50 MW
Target Discharge Duration Range: 15 minutes – 1 hour
Minimum Cycles/Year: 10 – 20