Faculty at Binghamton University will develop and demonstrate a new energy storage process and solution for warehouse energy management. The solution will use solar panels, a stationary energy storage system and lithium-ion batteries on forklifts that will reduce energy costs for warehouse owners.
Funded by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), the project will allow researchers to work with The Raymond Corporation, a leading manufacturer of electric forklift trucks and intralogistics solutions, to develop an economically viable storage demonstration project. The project is designed to demonstrate why a behind-the-meter storage system and controllable forklift charging can be beneficial for warehouse owners and the utility grid.
Electric forklift trucks are traditionally powered by lead-acid batteries, which can have an extended recharge time of up to eight hours. In many high-use warehouses, several of these shifts may overlap where each forklift truck may have two or three batteries utilized per truck – one in use, one on recharge and one cooling down in storage. Lithium-ion batteries provide great benefits to Raymond’s customers, but the fast-charging feature may cause significant energy demands to warehouse owners during peak times, which is why this project was developed.
The proposed solution can turn warehouses into a controllable energy hub which can be optimized to support the power grid during normal and peak grid conditions. Binghamton University will work with New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) to estimate the grid benefit/impact of the proposed system. Preliminary analysis includes an estimation of how the system impacts the efficiency of the local circuit.
NYSERDA’s project was founded to assist the state in combatting climate change and put it on the path to carbon neutrality. By working with Raymond, this initiative is focused on driving down costs and creating a self-sustaining energy market for both wholesale and commercial businesses in the state. Ultimately, Binghamton University and Raymond will work together to implement changes in warehouses to encourage sustainability, while engaging and educating the local community on their efforts.
This project builds on a previously NYSERDA-funded project completed by Raymond in 2017 which showed the advantages to using lithium-ion batteries for energy storage on forklifts. The earlier project developed methods for the battery, truck and charger to communicate temperatures, state of charge and other status information, as well as demonstrate improved performance while the forklifts were in use.