The Kansas-based engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) services provider Black & Veatch has reportedly built a microgrid project in the United States for Royal Dutch Shell to assist the oil and gas behemoth in building its distributed energy resources. As per trusted sources, Black & Veatch had secured the collaborative research-based project in July 2017.
The project has been constructed at Shell’s Technology Center in Houston, Texas and is slated to house around 2,000 employees including engineers, consultants, and scientists. Reportedly, the new microgrid project will be used to power the Technology Center campus and will be deployed by Shell Exploration & Production Company as a ‘critical research tool’.
According to a report published by E&P Magazine, the microgrid consists of a 250kW,1,050MWh lithium-ion battery energy storage system, a 250kW load bank, a 300kW ground-mounted solar array, and a 127kW of natural gas generator.
Jon La Follett of Shell’s New Energies Research and Technology Department reportedly stated that the microgrid is already creating value for the Technology Center in Houston by providing renewable and resilient power for part of its campus. The microgrid is further generating economic benefit by exporting power to the local grid.
Follett further added that the new microgrid gives Shell an opportunity to test different strategies and ideas as the company works to comprehend the operational envelope of various components and requires flexibility to test several combinations of distributed energy resources.
As per the corporate website of Royal Dutch Shell, the firm expects about 70 percent of the world’s energy to come from no-renewable sources by 2050, with renewable forms of energy making up the other 30 percent. However, the latest microgrid is aimed at directing Shell on how distributed and clean energy resources and technologies can be advanced.
