The City of Huntington Beach, California, selected Stem, Inc. to build a 235 kilowatt-hour AI-powered energy storage system for its new Civic Center. When operations begin early next year, the system is expected to predict the facility’s energy demand, saving the city money.
Demand charges can make up more than 50% of a utility customer’s monthly bill, Stem says. The Millbrae, California-based company developed artificial intelligence called Athena for energy storage and virtual power plants that optimizes the timing of energy use and facilitates consumers’ participation in energy markets.
Stem noted that the City of Huntington Beach’s use of AI-powered energy storage complements a suite of municipal energy efficiency and sustainability initiatives, pairing energy storage with 2 MW of solar photovoltaic generation at the Civic Center, City Library, and City Yard.
“We were attracted to Stem’s track record with automated customer savings while also using their storage networks to help integrate more renewable energy into the local grid,” said Mayor Mike Posey.
The new system for Huntington Beach joins Stem’s energy storage systems network, which the company says is the largest in the world. This will enable the city to participate in a marketplace of additional opportunities when the system isn’t needed for onsite energy.
“When extreme weather like heat waves and wildfires strain the grid, Stem’s systems are dispatched in real time, providing Southern California Edison additional power needed in the highly-congested West Los Angeles basin,” the company said.
In February, Kilroy Realty Corporation (KRC) chose Stem to deploy 7.5 MWh of AI-driven energy storage at eight commercial buildings in the real estate company’s California portfolio. “Intelligent energy storage helps reduce the environmental footprint of our building operations,” Sara Neff, senior vice president of sustainability at KRC, said at the time.
