Press Release: 4/3/2025

Eversource Engineers Win Excellence Award for Outer Cape Battery Energy Storage System

 



APR 2, 2025



OUTER CAPE BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMRELIABILITYINNOVATIONAWARDEMPLOYEES



 



Energy Systems Integration Group recognizes team for innovation and seamless implementation



BOSTON, Mass. (April 2, 2025) – Recognizing their innovative, state-of-the-art electric distribution planning techniques and seamless implementation of a first-of-it-kind system to improve reliability for customers, a team of Eversource engineers were named among Energy Systems Integration Group’s (ESIG) 2025 Excellence Award winners for their contributions to the energy company’s Outer Cape Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Provincetown. The ESIG Excellence Awards recognize energy professionals from around the world for their contributions and accomplishments toward the planning and operation of energy systems across multiple pathways and geographical scales in ways that are reliable, economic, and sustainable.





Eversource Vice President of Grid Modernization Jen Schilling and Director of Protection and Control Engineering George Wegh with the ESIG Excellence Award. Read on for the complete list of Eversource winners.



“We’re grateful to ESIG for recognizing the ingenuity and out-of-the-box thinking that enabled our team to design, construct and successfully put into service the first single battery in the nation to power a microgrid of this size,” said Eversource Vice President for Grid Modernization Jen Schilling. “The BESS demonstrates how collaboration with diverse stakeholders leads to innovative solutions that best serve the unique needs of our customers and communities, and we’re proud to share this award with the Town of Provincetown and our many other partners who helped bring this groundbreaking project to fruition.”





Eversource gives a tour of its Battery Energy Storage System to the Outer Cape fire departments as part of proactive safety training to prepare first responders for any potential emergencies involving the system.



Strategically constructed at the Provincetown transfer station to maximize its electric reliability benefits, Eversource’s BESS is connected to the grid fully charged and available 24/7 to provide backup power automatically within moments of an outage to approximately 10,200 customers served by a single 13-mile distribution line. This innovative solution to a complex issue avoided the need for a second distribution line along the same route as the existing line, which would have required significant construction through the Cape Cod National Seashore. Since it was put into service in 2022, the battery has been called on to provide backup power for nearly 32,000 customers while crews worked to repair damage—significantly reducing the frequency and duration of power outages for customers on the Outer Cape.





Eversource’s Outer Cape BESS in Provincetown.



As part of its continued investment in scaling the emerging technologies needed to tackle the most urgent climate challenges while ensuring reliability for customers, Eversource is building upon the success of its award-winning battery in partnership with Cape Light Compact (CLC) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to expand access to clean energy technologies and delivering direct reliability and resiliency benefits to 48,000 Cape Cod residents in vulnerable environmental justice communities. Eversource’s Outer Cape Microgrid Optimization Project will coordinate and optimize diverse, customer-owned clean energy resources like solar panels, smart thermostats, and batteries with its Outer Cape BESS in Provincetown to extend the length of time the BESS can provide customers with reliable power while crews work to make repairs.



More than 30 individuals received ESIG Excellence Awards for their sustained contributions and dedication to the energy industry. Schilling accepted Eversource’s award on behalf of the company at ESIG’s recognition ceremony in March.



Eversource’s winners include:



For state-of-the-art distribution planning techniques:




  • Digaunto Chatterjee, Senior Vice President of Engineering

  • Lavelle Freeman, Vice President of Distribution System Planning

  • Gerhard Walker, Director of Integrated Energy Planning

  • Juan Martinez, Director of Distribution System Planning

  • Shakir Iqbal, Manager of Distributed Energy Resource Planning

  • Elli Ntakou, Manager of System Reliability and Resiliency Planning



For successful implementation of a grid-forming BESS for seamless micro-grid and grid-connected operations:




  • George Wegh, Director of Protection and Control Engineering

  • Jennifer Schilling, Vice President of Grid Modernization

  • John Ventura, Manager of Distribution Engineering

  • Anuj Mathur, Manager of Technology Projects



Learn more about the ESIG Excellence Awards and find a complete list of winners here.



Eversource (NYSE: ES), celebrated as a national leader for its corporate citizenship, is recognized as the #1 U.S. utility on TIME’s List of World’s Best Companies for 2024. Eversource transmits and delivers electricity and natural gas and supplies water to 1.8 million customers throughout Massachusetts, including approximately 1.47 million electric customers in 140 communities, 639,000 gas customers in 117 communities, and 11,500 water customers in five communities. Eversource harnesses the commitment of more than 10,000 employees across three states to build a single, united company around the mission of safely delivering reliable energy and water with superior customer service. The #1 energy efficiency provider in the nation, the company is empowering a clean energy future in the Northeast, with nationally recognized energy efficiency solutions and successful programs to integrate new clean energy resources like a first-in-the-nation networked geothermal pilot project, solar, offshore wind, electric vehicles and battery storage, into the electric system. For more information, please visit eversource.com, and follow us on X, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. For more information on our water services, visit aquarionwater.com.



CONTACT:

Kaitlyn Woods

603-860-3123

kaitlyn.woods@eversource.com