Enel X’s Storage Systems in the heart of New York

 

It is one of the trendiest neighborhoods in Manhattan, where movie and fashion stars, entrepreneurs and TV celebrities have taken home.

 

Tribeca somehow represents the past and future of New York: a city in constant transformation that in this corner of the Big Apple returns its history of the early twentieth century and the ambitions of the new millennium.

 

It has over a century of history: in the early days an agricultural center, then a commercial hub, then a financial center and now a housing district.

 

 

Glenwood Management is one of New York City’s largest owners and builders of luxury rental apartments. It is a leading company in corporate sustainability and focused on distributed energy resource (DER) deployment; Glenwood has among its strategic goals of using clean, renewable energy and delivering sound economic returns.

 

Tribeca district tenants have experienced the disruption and impact that rapid load growth has on the city’s grid, including voltage instability and occasional outages.

To optimize returns for the company and its properties, Glenwood participates in Consolidated Edison’s demand response (DR) programs aimed at shedding loads during peak periods.

 

The Glenwood’s management team fully supports statewide efforts to build a more reliable and resilient grid. Through ongoing implementation of the company’s Behind-the-Meter (BtM) storage systems, renewables and other programs, it can now provide significant benefits to the grid, along with enhanced value to their buildings and greater resiliency for residents.

For more than five years, Glenwood has partnered with Enel X on storage-based solutions at multiple residential properties.

Glenwood Management's partnership with Enel X is characterized by three main KPIs achieved through the implementation of advanced storage solutions:

• Optimization of performance and financial returns through storage and solar-plus-storage solutions
• Participation in different revenue-based grid programs as made possible by DER Optimization Software
• Commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship through an intelligently controlled DER network

The systems are controlled by Enel X’s DER Optimization Software, which aggregates and optimizes performance and financial returns of BtM storage systems.

The first of these projects was installed in 2012, when Glenwood added a 225 kW / 2 MWh battery storage system controlled by DER Optimization Software at its Barclay Tower property. Since then, the company has been working closely with Enel X on an ongoing rollout of 1 MW / 4 MWh storage and solar-plus-storage systems across ten additional buildings for distributed grid support and increased savings.

Glenwood’s DER deployments offer multiple benefits. One is their relative compactness and portability, enabling storage resources to be installed in constrained spaces like garages and basements.

 

Another benefit is that intelligent DER Optimization Software allows for the simultaneous co-optimization of demand charge reduction, energy arbitrage on the city’s day-ahead energy markets, and participation in demand response opportunities.

 

The program also provides Con Edison with a more granular, location-based response to peak electricity demand across different areas of the city.

The DER Optimization Software can also act as a Virtual Power Plant (VPP), aggregating Glenwood’s energy resources to make it possible to participate in different revenue-based grid programs. The software intelligently combines building portfolios into “smart groups” aligned with the Con Ed grid, and enables site-specific and VPP (aggregated) demand response co-optimization. This advanced capability facilitates intelligent participation across Con Ed’s networks, each of which has different location-based program call windows. The overall result is an intelligently controlled distributed energy resource network that supports Glenwood’s commitment to sustainability and good corporate citizenship; enables Con Ed to leverage aggregated assets to ensure grid stability and reliability; and delivers solid financial returns.