Stem, Inc., San Francisco, California, a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven energy storage systems, has been awarded a project mandate to provide energy storage solutions to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) in Greater Boston, United States, a public agency that provides wholesale water and sewer services reaching more than 3 million people in eastern and central Massachusetts. The project adds to Stem’s significant portfolio of more than 85 megawatt hours (MWh) of water treatment facilities contracted or managed by Athena™, Stem’s AI-powered smart storage software.
The project mandate totals 1 MWh of standalone, behind the meter energy storage projects located at two MWRA sites in Arlington and Chelsea. Stem expects to deliver significant utility bill savings for MWRA through its demand charge and demand response solutions.
John E. Carrington, Chief Executive Officer of Stem, commented, “There is a large and growing market opportunity for Stem and our partners to help state and federal agencies deploy smart energy storage solutions, and this project is our first expansion into Massachusetts water facility projects. Our smart storage software Athena™ will manage these sites to provide demand charge management, demand response and most importantly, energy cost savings to MWRA and the Greater Boston area. Stem’s ability to provide expert energy services, empowered by our Athena™ platform, is helping to sustainably and economically drive the smart energy transition.”
“We have been very aggressive in our pursuit of renewable and sustainable energy sources at our water and wastewater facilities,” said MWRA Executive Director, Fred Laskey. “Stem has been a great partner on this new initiative throughout the entire process. Stem’s battery storage systems are a perfect addition to our portfolio and will help us continue to reduce our carbon footprint while delivering attractive cost savings.”
Benefits of Energy Storage for Water Treatment Facilities
Stem has significant experience deploying smart storage for water treatment facilities, with over 85 MWh of projects under contract or management by Athena™ in this specific sector. This includes a 4.9 MW/ 32.5 MWh system at the Orange County Sanitation District, which is part of the 345 MWh SK E&S and SUSI Partners portfolio awarded to Stem in 2020.
MWRA chose Stem and Stem’s industry-leading smart storage software for its utility bill optimization, demand response, and demand charge management solutions. With climate change effects and complications of the pandemic, resilience and redundancy are critical objectives that battery energy storage can address. In working with Stem to optimize its footprint, MWRA also hopes to further contribute to Massachusetts’ goal of achieving net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050.
Dual Energy Storage Deployments in Greater Boston
In Arlington, MWRA sought significant savings from high demand charges – and with a large energy footprint, its Arlington pumping station was an ideal place to implement energy storage.
In Chelsea, MWRA prioritized utility bill savings for its administration building that houses the agency’s field and operations staff.
Stem was tasked with shifting MWRA’s pump house and administrative building loads to off-peak hours to capture less expensive energy, enabling MWRA to optimize its utility costs. During times of peak demand, Stem’s demand response service automatically discharges batteries to reduce site loads, allowing MWRA to maintain uptime, monitor its demand, or interface with the utility during a demand response event. In addition, Athena™ will enable the projects to participate in wholesale energy markets managed by ISO New England.
Both projects are in coordination with Eversource, New England’s largest electric and natural gas provider. Energy storage projects supported by Eversource are implemented to lessen grid stress and further the region’s climate change goals.
“As a catalyst for clean energy, we partner with like-minded companies and stakeholders to conduct our business in a responsible and sustainable way,” said Eversource Senior Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Penni Conner. “We’re proud to collaborate with MWRA on this cutting-edge battery storage technology to reduce energy use and costs and will continue to find innovative ways to power New England.”
Stem and Star Peak Business Combination Update
Stem remains on track to complete its previously announced business combination agreement with Star Peak Energy Transition Corp. (NYSE: STPK) in the first quarter of 2021. Upon closing, the combined company will be named Stem, Inc. and will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the new ticker symbol “STEM”.
About Stem, Inc.
Stem provides solutions that address the challenges of today’s dynamic energy market. By combining advanced energy storage solutions with Athena™, a world-class AI-powered analytics platform, Stem enables customers and partners to optimize energy use by automatically switching between battery power, onsite generation and grid power. Stem’s solutions help enterprise customers benefit from a clean, adaptive energy infrastructure and achieve a wide variety of goals, including expense reduction, resilience, sustainability, environmental and corporate responsibility and innovation. Stem also offers full support for solar partners interested in adding storage to standalone, community or commercial solar projects – both behind and in front of the meter.
Headquartered in Millbrae, Calif., Stem is directly funded by a consortium of leading investors including Activate Capital, Angeleno Group, BNP Paribas, Constellation Technology Ventures, Copec, Iberdrola (Inversiones Financieras Perseo), GE Ventures, Magnesium Capital, Mithril Capital Management, Mitsui & Co. LTD., Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, RWE Supply & Trading, Temasek and Total Energy Ventures.
About Massachusetts Water Resource Authority
MWRA is a public authority established by an act of the Legislature in 1984 to provide wholesale water and sewer services to 3.1 million people and more than 5,500 large industrial users in 61 communities in eastern and central Massachusetts. While best known for the successful clean-up of Boston Harbor – along with the Charles, Mystic and Neponset Rivers – MWRA has also modernized the regional water system to meet the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. MWRA has been aggressively retrofitting its coastal facilities to mitigate the effects of sea level rise and the agency has been recognized nationally for its sustainability and renewable energy initiatives.
About Star Peak Energy Transition Corp.
Star Peak is a blank check company incorporated in Delaware for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. Star Peak is led by a management team with extensive experience investing in the energy, energy infrastructure and renewables sectors, including Chairman, Michael Morgan and Chief Executive Officer, Eric Scheyer. Michael Morgan is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer at Triangle Peak Partners LP and currently serves as a director of Sunnova Energy International and lead director of Kinder Morgan, Inc., one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America, a company he joined at its founding in 1997. Eric Scheyer is a Partner at Magnetar and has served as the Head of the Magnetar Energy and Infrastructure Group since its inception in 2005.