E.ON has officially opened its first energy storage project in North America.

The 10MW Iron Horse energy storage unit and accompanying 2MW solar facility at the University of Arizona’s Tech Park is now helping Tucson Electric Power (TEP) maintain reliable power for more than 400,000 customers by providing frequency regulation and voltage control support.

TEP’s community-scale solar resources produce enough electricity to serve more than 52,000 customers in the region.

Carmine Tilghman, Senior Director of Energy Supply and Renewable Energy for TEP, said: “We expect energy storage systems like Iron Horse to play an increasingly important role in the delivery of safe, reliable electric service to customers as we continue our expansion of renewable resources.

“E.ON has provided our local electric grid with a cost effective, reliable battery storage and solar system that will help us build a more resilient grid for our customers.”

Lessons learned from the project are being applied to E.ON’s Texas Waves projects, the second and third grid connected lithium-ion battery systems installed by the company in the US.