The U.S. Navy has awarded ZBB Energy Corp. a contract valued at $1.2 million for an energy storage system that will be used to help power a Naval facility on a Pacific island west of Los Angeles.
The Menomonee Falls clean-tech company said it will supply an energy storage system that includes a power and energy control center as well as the company's zinc bromide flow batteries, which will be used in combination with wind turbines already installed at the San Nicolas Island Naval Facility.
The $1.2 million contract was awarded by the U.S. Navy Fleet and Industrial Supply Center in San Diego.
The ZBB EnerSystem will be used in a micro-grid application on the island, which the Navy uses for radar tracking and testing of short- and medium-range missiles. Part of the Channel Islands, San Nicolas is perhaps best known for being the setting for the novel "Island of the Blue Dolphins."
The energy storage system will help the Navy reduce the use of diesel fuel generators on the island, said Eric Apfelbach, ZBB president and chief executive. The system will be paired with wind turbines and diesel generators, with solar panels to be added later, said Dan Nordloh, ZBB vice president.
"We've been working on this for a year at least," Apfelbach said. "It's a megawatt-hour of storage and a 500-kilowatt inverter to run an off-grid power station out on the island. They've basically been burning diesel fuel, and now they can go out and put a power system in."
In a two-year test, the Navy will eva luate the ZBB EnerSystem's ability to maintain power quality and keep electricity flowing when the wind isn't blowing.
ZBB said this is the first time in North America that an advanced energy storage system will be tested in a micro-grid application along with large-scale renewable sources in conjunction with a system that manages the delivery of power.
If the project is successful, it could lead to wider deployment at other Navy facilities, as part of a broader Pentagon effort to deploy new technologies that cut petroleum use.
Nordloh said the company's storage system is designed to integrate the wind power that's already being generated as well as solar power that will be generated from a future project.
"San Nicolas Island is kind of a hostile environment from a weather perspective, with the salty sea spray," Nordloh said. "It's a very remote location. This will be shipped with a custom enclosure to accommodate the system in its entirety."
After the contract was announced Friday, ZBB shares rose 6 cents to 97 cents per share.