Just days after announcing its strategic entry into the battery energy storage (BESS) sector jointly with OEMs, Volvo Penta as a BESS subsystem supplier has unveiled a partnership with Utility Innovation Group (UIG) aimed at US and international markets. The two companies are collaborating to enhance power grid reliability and resiliency through battery energy storage and integration – maximizing the use of the grid’s renewable wind and solar power. 

Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, UIG is dedicated to influencing the growth of decentralized and advanced utility systems worldwide, helping power companies and major energy users build a more sustainable and resilient grid. With Volvo Penta’s highly configurable and inherently scalable battery energy storage subsystem enabling excess energy to be preserved until demand increases, the Volvo Penta solution is set to play a major role in UIG’s plans. 

It takes two 

Volvo Penta will work closely with UIG to adapt and integrate the subsystem into its modular nodes of scalable battery energy storage with the goal of ultimately designing a resilient and carbon-free grid. 

The foundation of UIG is built upon extensive experience and knowledge in the field of distributed energy resources (DER), microgrids, data centers, and power systems, with an emphasis on the potential for large-scale deployment of BESS applications. Moreover, they possess strong connections with key players who demand dependable power systems, including electric utilities, industrial operations, and data centers. 

“We considered all options when evaluating our battery storage market strategy, and Volvo Penta’s technical aptitude prevailed,” says Derek Tugwell, President UIG. “A key aspect for our success is Volvo Group’s common e-mobility and equipment architecture, which has been put together to create incredibly energy-dense battery electric drivetrains for buses, trucks and construction equipment around the globe. Volvo Penta’s investments in supply, research and development, and engineering competence create an extremely robust technology platform ready to tackle the grid’s toughest challenges.” 

Building reliability and resilience 

As an independent supplier, Volvo Penta’s value-added system-supplier approach ensures holistic deployment of its offerings to partners such as UIG. This covers the entire value chain from battery design all the way to the subsystem support for the OEMs’ battery energy storage systems, while meeting safety and performance standards. 

“While Volvo Penta provides the subsystem to the battery energy storage, our partners have deep grid operability and application expertise,” adds Darren Tasker, Vice President Industrial, Volvo Penta North America. “Our cooperation enables a lean, start-up way of working that will help us both to scale up quickly, with UIG contributing its vast experience in the intricacies of deploying advanced power systems to specific segments.” 

“The pursuit of a fully decarbonized grid is a worthy, yet complex, endeavor because we cannot sacrifice the reliability that society has come to expect from traditional grid operations,” concludes Sidney Hinton, Founder and CEO of UIG. “As the grid evolves, and large energy users rapidly become ‘prosumers’ continually investing in new types of power systems, the need arises for innovative solutions. Our integration experience, combined with Volvo Penta’s compelling solution, gives us a key market advantage – enabling our teams to shape the future of electric grid infrastructure across the globe.”

Volvo Penta | https://www.volvopenta.com/