Nebraska Utility Adds Zinc Battery to Lincoln Microgrid
Utility Dive reports that Lincoln Electric System is nearing commercial operation on a 3-MW/12-MWh zinc-based battery, a project that will boost capacity on its 30-MW downtown Lincoln microgrid by about 10%. The battery, built by Pittsburgh-based Eos Energy Enterprises, is now in final commissioning and expected online in the coming weeks. It joins a dual-fuel combustion turbine, customer-owned solar and thermal storage already backing up the Nebraska State Capitol complex, a federal building, city offices and two public safety facilities. LES selected Eos after a 2021 RFP, citing the lowest per-unit cost over the contract term and the chemistry’s non-flammable profile, a factor the utility says matters for equipment sited in a dense urban substation. LES director Scott Benson said the utility has no pressing resource needs and no immediate plans for additional batteries, but expects storage to be part of any future resource planning as generation assets age.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Zinc-based battery installations still require site prep, civil work, electrical tie-ins and substation modifications, trades that get called in even when the storage technology itself isn’t lithium-based. Firms with substation and E&I experience should track Eos Energy Enterprises’ expanding project list, which includes a 36-MW/216-MWh Springfield, Missouri job and a 100-MW/400-MWh Redbird project in ERCOT.
- Municipal and public utilities like LES, a nonprofit under the Southwest Power Pool, often run RFP processes for storage and microgrid work rather than negotiated contracts. Subcontractors serving public power customers in Nebraska, Missouri and other SPP territory should watch for similar RFPs as utilities look to de-risk urban installations with non-flammable chemistries.
- LES’s comment that “things can change in a hurry” as generation ages signals potential follow-on storage work even without a current pipeline. Contractors with battery installation or microgrid integration experience should maintain relationships with municipal utilities now, since resource plans citing battery evaluation, as Benson noted LES would include today, tend to precede procurement.
