Developing green energy systems for remote communities

A Canadian wind developer and an energy storage company will team up to develop "cost-effective green energy systems" for remote communities in Canada and Alaska. Sea Breeze Power and VRB Power Systems, both based in Vancouver, have identified more than 400 communities as potential customers for the system, which would combine wind power generation with VRB's vanadium redox battery energy storage system to reduce the need for expensive and polluting diesel generation on isolated grids. "Many of these communities are very dependent on fossil fuels and pay energy costs that can be up to ten times higher than in the rest of Canada," says Sea Breeze's Paul Manson. Right now, wind power in remote communities is generally used to displace diesel generation when there is enough wind to operate the turbines. Using battery storage, say the companies, will "effectively provide" the ability to supply firm capacity from wind.