Letters to the Editor: March 13, 2025
BESS systems still in dispute
A meeting was recently held at the Sterling Woods condominium in Port Jefferson Station to discuss the impending proposal for an 8.75-MW lithium-ion Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). According to the New Leaf Energy Senior Director of Business Development, this 8.75-MW BESS “can power 8,500 single-family homes for 4 hours.”
This raises a very interesting question: what is the meaning of the phrase “power a home?” Does this imply that all (100%) of the power used in the home will be provided?
Or will the BESS provide only a small percentage, e.g., 20%, of the total power required by each home? If the BESS provides 8.75 MW of power to 8,500 homes for 4 hours, the average power delivered to each home is 1,029 W. For a typical home in Port Jefferson Station, surely a more realistic measure of the required power consumption would be about 5,000 W, rather than 1,029 W. Thus, for this case, the BESS will be providing approximately 20.9% of the required power, and not 100%.
Clearly, the remaining 79.1%, which is 3,971 W, will need to be provided from some other (unspecified) source, if 8,500 homes are to be fully powered with 5,000 W each. Realistically, a single 8.75-MW BESS might be able to provide 5,000 W of power for 4 hours to each of 1,750 (rather than 8,500) homes. Alternatively, a total of 5 BESS units could be configured to fully power 8,500 homes.
Another subject of discussion at the meeting was the hot topic of thermal runaway in the lithium-ion battery cells. This was said to be “caused when the cells are interfered with or abused and are unable to regulate normally,” While this is correct, it should also be mentioned that “abuse” does not necessarily have to be mechanically induced, but can also originate as a malfunction in the electronic control circuitry, including the charging and cell balancing circuits, and the software that controls them. This can lead to unintentional overcharging of one or more cells, which can lead directly to thermal runaway.
George Altemose
Setauket
Read more about the topic here or visit https://tbrnewsmedia.com/port-jefferson-station-residents-question-battery-storage-proposal-at-sterling-woods-meeting/
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