Southern California utility Imperial Irrigation District (IID) has successfully demonstrated the use of a battery energy storage system ( BESS ) to perform a 'black start', restoring power to an electric power generator without calling on external transmission lines, in a move that could improve grid resilience. To our knowledge, this is the first time in history that a battery energy storage system black-started a generator in an operational situation,” Kasarjian said. Earlier this month , IID 's 44 MW/20 MWh lithium-ion IID kick-started BESS 44 MW combined cycle natural gas turbine, in what IID manager for energy department, Vicken Kasarjian , called a “major accomplishment in the energy industry". In January , the same process was performed for the first time ever by German-American technology firm Younicos .
Southern California utility Imperial Irrigation District (IID) has successfully demonstrated the use of a battery energy storage system ( BESS ) to perform a 'black start', restoring power to an electric power generator without calling on external transmission lines, in a move that could improve grid resilience. Earlier this month , IID 's 44 MW/20 MWh lithium-ion IID kick-started BESS 44 MW combined cycle natural gas turbine, in what IID manager for energy department, Vicken Kasarjian , called a “major accomplishment in the energy industry". In January , the same process was performed for the first time ever by German-American technology firm Younicos .