The California Public Utilities Commission has approved the development of three new energy storage facilities by utility firm San Diego Gas & Electric.
The three facilities will have a total capacity of 161 MW/644 MWh and are expected to be ready by late 2022 or early 2023. The projects will provide reliability and meet the energy requirements of 100,000 homes for up to four hours.
The facilities will be connected to the state energy market and so the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) will be able to dispatch the energy to balance demand and supply on the grid.
The projects are the latest in a series of investments made by the utility. A 30 MW/120 MWh lithium-ion battery system was completed in last June. By March, the firm intends to begin commercial operations of a 20 MW/80 MWh lithium-ion battery storage facility in Kearny Mesa. Another 40 MW/160 MWh facility is under construction in Fallbrook.
By the end of this year, the utility will have 145 MW of SDG&E-owned storage connected to the grid.
Related stories
SDG&E selects ESS for battery storage at Cameron Corners Microgrid project
City of San Jose, Terra-Gen completing 62-MW Solar and Battery Storage facilities
Subscribe to Energy Tech's free, tri-weekly ENL for more stories like these
SDG&E Vice President of Energy Innovation Miguel Romero said, “Investing in advanced technologies like energy storage is critical to advancing our state and region’s aggressive climate goals, including getting to net zero greenhouse gas emissions, with the added benefit of making the energy grid more resilient. Project by project, step by step, we are making progress toward a cleaner, safer and more reliable energy future.”
Battery storage captures energy from renewable sources, like wind and solar, and sends it back to the grid as and when needed.
