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The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is working on a smart grid pilot program to store electricity created by subway train brakes. The stored power, which would be contained in a huge battery, could be used to help run the trains (and reduce energy use), smooth out demand peaks in the transit system — and surplus power could be sold to the electric grid operator. The storage project is expected to earn $500,000 a year. Large battery technology will be coupled with management software from Philadelphia smart grid company Viridity Energy. The pilot, which involves one of SEPTA's 38 substations, does face some challenges, said Kevin Morelock, IT and projects director at Viridity, in a recent issue of MIT's Technology Review. The battery selected will need to be able to run through its charge/discharge cycle quickly and possibly through hundreds of thousands of cycles, he said. The other puzzler is creating software that can evaluate data from the transit agency and from several electricity markets and decide whether to use the stored power or sell it. The project is being paid for with a $900,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority.
Quick Take: This will be an interesting pilot to follow, particular for the smart grid mass transit sector. One of the key questions would seem to be: How much power are you actually going to get?
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