Interestingly enough, the same Ford factory that used to make car engines is now using technology to power EVs to reduce the facility’s carbon footprint.
Ford is partnering with energy storage solution provider Convergent Energy and Power to reduce power usage with lithium-ion battery technology.
Convergent uses artificial intelligence (AI)-powered battery storage to help businesses reduce their energy costs while reducing their carbon footprint. Since its founding in 2011, Convergent has continuously advanced the battery energy storage market and claims it can play a key role in the transition to a clean energy future.
As the need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels becomes increasingly apparent due to the growing global energy crisis, the company develops energy storage and solar plus storage systems. doing. A cleaner future.
Convergent has committed over $500 million in energy storage and solar plus storage (500 MW/800 MWh) capacity in operation or under development.
Ford’s Essex engine plant in Windsor, Ontario, utilizes a (4 MW/8 MWh) battery energy storage system to power parts of the facility during peak electricity consumption. Ford Essex plant his manager Thomas Reeber talks about how new energy solutions can benefit facilities, grids and communities.
The battery storage system provided by Convergent Energy and Power is a great example of how batteries support the automotive industry at the plant level while also supporting the power grid that serves Ford and the surrounding region.
Convergent’s new energy solution is new to Ford, but it could mark the start of a new trend as automakers look to cut costs (and more importantly, their carbon footprint) wherever possible. There is a nature.
Electrek take
It’s interesting to see a facility manufacturing gas engines that implement EV battery technology to reduce carbon emissions and save energy costs.
Energy storage, on the other hand, helps maximize the benefits of renewable energy. For example, electricity prices are highest during the hours of highest demand and, perhaps more importantly, during the most carbon-intensive hours.
The reason is that when energy demand is high, the current solution to meet it is to use obsolete gas “peaker plants” that are inefficient, costly to operate and have a high carbon footprint.
They are called peaker plants because they are usually only operated when the demand for electricity reaches peaks. The United States relies on more than 1,000 natural gas and oil-fired peaker power plants.
However, battery storage solutions such as those offered by Convergent, combined with renewable energy, can increase grid flexibility, reduce costs, and reduce air pollution.
Tesla and Elon Musk have rolled out and proposed several Megapack projects to avoid adding new peaker plants and instead offer stationary energy storage solutions.
The more energy storage options available, the less we need to rely on fossil fuels. The ability to store energy from renewable sources such as solar and wind will help ease the transition to the clean energy sector.
For example, less than 25% of proposed large-scale renewable energy projects are in commercial operation due to transmission hurdles. Battery storage and renewable energy can help solve this problem while reducing energy costs and reducing air pollution.
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