Carson City, Nevada - The Governor’s Office of Energy (GOE) recently awarded a grant to Viridity Energy Solutions, Inc. (Viridity), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ormat Technologies, Inc. to install and monitor a battery energy storage system supplied by Tesla, Inc., in the Grant Sawyer State Office Building in Las Vegas, Nevada.  The system will reduce Grant Sawyer’s annual energy costs by thousands of dollars.

The Grant Sawyer State Office Building is the primary State office in Las Vegas. Located on East Washington Avenue, the 5-story 224,000 square foot office building houses the offices of the Governor, Attorney General, Legislative Counsel Bureau, Gaming Commission, Nevada Athletic Commission, and other state agencies. 

Viridity will utilize its proprietary VpowerTM energy management software platform to monitor customer load, grid conditions, and other influential parameters (historical data, forecasted weather, battery performance, and other building variables) to forecast optimal battery dispatch to prevent expected future peak demand and maximize savings.

“I am incredibly pleased to see this project being realized,” Governor Brian Sandoval said. “In 2017, I signed legislation that provided for this demonstration project – which will help our state save money while also furthering Nevada’s commitment to clean energy. I appreciate Viridity taking the lead on this project and I thank Tesla for once again stepping up to the plate and helping to continue to build the new Nevada.” 

“This project will serve as a demonstration of the advances in battery storage performance and monitoring to reduce energy requirements from the electric grid during peak demand periods.” said GOE Director Angela Dykema. “This is a great example of public-private partnership between the State of Nevada and two companies with significant operations in Nevada that will set the stage for the future utilization of energy storage across our state.”

“GOE continues to be an innovator in identifying new technologies, such as battery storage, to assist the grid in providing the best quality electricity service to Nevada residents and in being a leader in adopting green technology.  We are very honored to be selected as the software platform and operations provider for the GOE and for the opportunity to work with Tesla on this inventive project.  By leveraging our VPowerTM software and proprietary algorithms, we will ensure the GOE will receive the maximum economic benefit along with ensuring the health and longevity of the Tesla battery system.” commented Mack Treece, CEO of Viridity.

“Tesla has been proud to have the support of Governor Sandoval and the State of Nevada as we continue to develop Gigafactory 1, and this Powerpack project at the Grant Sawyer State Building is another example of our ongoing collaboration to accelerate Nevada towards a clean energy future,” said Chris Reilly, Workforce Development & Education Lead at Tesla.

“We are excited to partner with the Governor’s Office of Energy and Ormat Technologies on this great demonstration project at Grant Sawyer,” said Patrick Cates, Director, Nevada Department of Administration. “We will be interested to see how the system performs and plan to evaluate this technology for potential use at other state buildings.” 

Manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory in northern Nevada, the Tesla Powerpack energy storage system will generally charge overnight when electricity demand and prices are low and discharge during the building’s peak demand period to help reduce overall electricity costs for the building.  

The funding comes from GOE’s Renewable Energy Account to promote the application of innovative clean energy technologies as well as an incentive from NV Energy’s newly implemented Large Commercial Energy Storage program, which was established by Senate Bill 145 in the 2017 Nevada Legislature.  

Battery procurement will begin in November 2018 with inspections, testing, and commissioning anticipated for the first half of 2019.