USF-St. Pete and Progress Energy agreed to buy two energy storage systems...

[USFan]

from VRB Power Systems Inc.

The agreement is for two 5-kilowatt, 4-hour systems from North Carolina-based VRB that officials say will integrate with a solar project on the St. Petersburg campus of the University of South Florida.

The solar project is to evaluate the storage of intermittent photovoltaic energy and utilize that energy for maximum benefit to customers and utility power systems. Researchers will be able to evaluate the potential of the energy storage systems for a number of power system applications.

"VRB Power has developed as its standard small system offering, a 5 kilowatt 4 hour unit focused on the telecommunications sector," John Davis, director of VRB, said in a statement. "It is very exciting to see that this same platform can also form the basis for PV (photovoltaic) market applications, such as with Progress Energy. This demonstrates the flexibility and potential of the VRB flow battery and dramatically increases our market potential."

The Power Center for Utility Explorations at USF is set to design, install, model and work on the simulation. The objective for PCUE Director Alex Domijan and Assistant Director Arif Islam will be to seek to transform the pilot effort into practical applications with an overall aim at mitigating climate change.

http://www.upi.com/Energy/Briefing/2007/07/26/vrb_to_sell_energy_storage_for_systems/8090/