Project Captures Braking Energy to Redeploy into Electric Grid at SEPTA

After a competitive bid process, an energy storage system from Saft and a system integration technology from Envitech Energy, a member of the ABB group, were selected to join the project and help to achieve SEPTA’s ambitious smart energy goals. Saft performed the design, manufacturing and commissioning of its Intensium Max20 P System, a battery energy storage system (ESS). Envitech Energy was selected to provide power controls, power conversion and system integration using its Envistoretm System.

“Saft supplied the first multiple purpose trackside energy storage system in North America – a fully integrated, containerized Li-ion solution – from our dedicated Jacksonville, Fla. facility. Our flexible lithium-ion technology provides both the energy and the power that is essential to such a demanding application,” said Blake Frye, vice president of sales, Energy Storage for Saft America. “We are very pleased by the results achieved by SEPTA and Viridity, thus far, and we are especially excited by the far-reaching implications of this pilot project in reducing energy costs for mass transit operators with commercially viable energy storage.”

“Using our Envistore system, we've successfully demonstrated our unique technical expertise in power conversion and real time controls applied to rail transport systems,” said Chris Poynter, vice-president Discrete Automation and Motion at ABB Inc. “Our solution enables SEPTA and Viridity to recover and recycle efficiently the otherwise lost surplus energy.”

Through this pilot, Viridity Energy will enable the participation of SEPTA in PJM’s frequency regulation market, which requires response to a 2 to 4 second PJM signal to provide a small injection or removal of power into the grid to ensure the grid operates at a frequency of 60 Hz. SEPTA will also be able to participate in PJM’s economic market, which is a high frequency, voluntary response program. Viridity Energy is one of the first “demand-side” participants in PJM’s regulation market.

Over the next month, the SEPTA pilot team will conduct a full-scale demonstration of regenerative capture and reuse, including regulation performance testing. Finally, the project will enable the simultaneous process of regenerative capture, regulation performance, and energy market participation utilizing Viridity Energy’s VPower optimizer to select which market to participate in based upon market pricing, battery state of charge, and availability of regenerative energy from the trains.