BASEL: Swiss Green Electricity Management Group (SGEM) has awarded Leclanche the contract to act as overall engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor on a 20MW/10MWh energy storage project in Chicago, northern US. The Marengo energy storage project, which will provide services to PJM Interconnection, will be operational by mid-2017.
PJM Interconnection operates one of the most mature markets for battery-based energy storage, for provision of frequency regulation, a grid ancillary service.
Switzerland-headquartered Leclanche is also the turnkey supplier of the battery system for the Marengo project, which is being developed by Glide Path Power, a Chicago-based developer of energy storage projects.
SGEM was formed in summer 2016 to invest in energy storage projects on a build-own-operate model. The firm is able to tap into a pool of capital from private investors in Europe, to provide equity financing for energy storage projects, which tend to cost in the region of €5-50 million to construct.
SGEM’s managing director, Jacques Boppe, said: “SGEM is a first mover in the energy storage asset class. Energy storage assets are attractive as different services can be bundled together to tap into multiple revenue streams.”