Dairyland has received a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) cooperative agreement award to strengthen grid resilience and advance the clean energy transition by bringing Long-Duration Energy Storage (LDES) opportunities to rural communities.

The over $28 million federal award, which is funded by OCED through the Rural Energy Viability for Integrated Vital Energy (REVIVE) project, will support the development of three battery storage facilities in the following locations in Dairyland’s rural service territory:

• Frentress Lake, Ill. (served by JCE Co-op)
• Waukon, Iowa (served by Allamakee-Clayton Electric Cooperative)
• Wyeville, Wis. (served by Oakdale Electric Cooperative)

Energy storage will be important to supporting reliability as a back-up technology resource for renewable energy. The Invinity Energy Systems vanadium flow batteries (VFB) funded by the award will be used to discharge at least 700 kilowatts of electricity for at least 10 hours.

In addition to promoting clean energy technologies, the REVIVE LDES award will include a robust Community Benefit Plan (CBP) to support equity and economic growth in Dairyland’s rural and agricultural service territories. The three project sites include a Justice40 community and those that have hosted now-retired coal-fired power plants. Dairyland will collaborate with cooperative members, community organizations, local labor unions and others to ensure the project benefits are equitably shared through workforce development, environmental stewardship and justice.

“Dairyland is excited to be at the forefront of bringing energy storage projects to underserved rural areas,” said Dairyland EVP & Chief Strategy Officer Kevin Nordt. “Long-duration batteries will be an essential component of the clean energy transition as they complement renewable resources and support reliability through their ability to store and shift energy in real time.”

That same “shift and release” ability of batteries may yield additional reliability benefits to energy consumers. For example, the batteries could help fulfill power needs during outages, allowing utility crews time to safely address issues while minimizing impact to homes and businesses.