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Like many parts of the United States, the Pacific Northwest is facing a significant challenge when it comes to meeting the energy needs of its businesses and residents. In short, the demand for electricity continues to increase, but providers have not been able to deliver enough power to meet that demand. Add the concerted move away from (or retirement of) more carbon-intensive generation sources and the stakes get higher.

At Mortenson, we are driving new solutions to meet this greater demand for energy. Working together with independent power producers and utility companies, we are using our extensive experience to help ensure an ample supply of power will remain available, even as our region continues to grow and develop.

Beyond keeping the lights on

There is an ever-increasing demand for electricity, particularly from utility customers such as data centers and large manufacturing facilities.

One of the primary ways Mortenson is working with these partners is through new energy storage technology, which allows utilities to more easily accommodate times of peak energy demand that would otherwise stress the wider electric grid. Energy storage has a small footprint and can respond to grid needs in real time by providing stored energy and quickly switching between charging and discharging power to balance the grid. This allows utilities to place storage projects in specific locations where the grid needs it.

In recent years, we have constructed many energy storage facilities across the country. One is a 75-megawatt system in Hillsboro. Meanwhile, construction of a 200-megawatt system is under way in Portland; we partnered with a local utility company and developer Eolian — utilizing a progressive design-build method to deliver these projects.

These sites are designed to supply additional power for up to four hours at full load to specific customers during times of peak demand. This stand-alone battery configuration is common and critical to support today’s evolving energy grid. Energy storage is also an ideal complement for solar and wind generation; when there is a surplus of solar and wind generation, batteries can store this energy for later use. This extends the reach of renewable energy to more hours of the day, making it available when needed most.

Building a powerful team

The first utility-scale battery storage systems in the Northwest were co-located with solar and wind farms. But newer facilities, such as the one in Hillsboro, are being built near cities to lessen the need for long-distance power transmission and solve localized utility grid constraints.

As utilities work to project and meet their future energy needs, Mortenson continues to work in tandem with them, utilizing our team’s expertise to provide solutions at regional and national scales.

Mortenson was one of the first contractors to build large-scale battery storage projects. We developed a core team of designers and operations staffers who understood what it takes to engineer, construct and successfully commission these projects.

For example, the geotechnical soil requirements of battery storage sites located in Hillsboro required seismically resilient concrete foundations rather than the typical helical or H-piles. Our team worked with geotechnical and seismic engineers to develop the right solutions for these sites.

In addition, the below-grade electrical infrastructure is extensive and requires intricate coordination with the rest of the project team. A key part of this coordination is performing thermal ampacity studies to ensure proper conduit spacing to account for heat generation associated with electrical feeder cables. When these cables are in constant use the insulation can break down and cause catastrophic failure if heat dissipation is not properly studied.

Finally, having the ability to oversee not just the construction but the commissioning of sophisticated electrical control systems is critical to quality and consistency. This is why we developed an in-house commissioning team that is specifically dedicated to battery storage projects. Because of the unique challenges of bringing storage projects online, Mortenson has combined the strengths of its storage, high voltage, engineering and commissioning teams to integrate all the electrical power and control systems together to function in the way needed.

Developing future energy

Combining various market disciplines — from generation to storage — into a comprehensive package led to the development of our Integrated Energy Businesses; to our knowledge, this approach is unique in the construction industry.

To date, our energy businesses have helped provide unique solutions for renewable energy and other integrated energy business-related projects in 38 out of 50 states. Our Integrated Energy Businesses complement our roots in commercial construction when it comes to understanding what it takes to build the job, the needs of the utility customer that will be operating it, and the goals of the data center or large energy user that will rely on the energy. This enables a unique and holistic approach to how we support our customers.

Subcontracting the required scopes for energy storage projects creates coordination and execution challenges. This is where Mortenson leverages its ability to self-perform 90 percent of a project to provide certainty in safety, quality, cost and schedule outcomes.

With nearly 30 years of experience as a market leader in renewable energy, Mortenson is continually evolving to meet the needs of customers and partners as they navigate the ever-changing energy landscape, while developing forward-thinking power solutions for the future.

James Counts is an MEP executive with Mortenson. Contact him at 971-202-4100 or [email protected].

The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the preceding commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the Daily Journal of Commerce or its editors. Neither the author nor the 91ÊÓƵ guarantees the accuracy or completeness of any information published herein.