Smart grid infrastructure and digital solutions are key catalysts for the energy
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San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), one of California''s main investor-owned utilities (IOUs), has brought online a portfolio of four ''advanced'' microgrids equipped with 180MWh of battery storage.
The self-contained energy systems are aimed at giving greater resilience to disruptions in electricity supply for four communities in the San Diego area of the US West Coast state, as well as enabling them to make greater use of local solar PV generation.
At 39MW output to their combined 180MWh energy capacity, the batteries'' average duration at the sites is around 4.6-hour, with each deployed at a different utility substation serving communities in Clairemont, Tierra Santa, Paradise, and Boulevard.
They are among dozens of microgrid projects aimed at enhancing energy security and reliability planned in construction or operation in California, which has a grid that suffers from many challenges, including wildfires and increasing peak loads during summer heatwaves.
While California''s fleet of around 7GW of deployed large-scale storage is helping to combat the latter issue at a system-wide level, distributed microgrids are being seen as the answer to help individual communities, often on the end of distribution feeder lines, to stay resilient.
The new SDG&E portfolio''s development directly sprang from an August 2021 Emergency Proclamation issued by California governor Gavin Newsom as the state faced imminent heatwaves that summer.
In declaring that State of Emergency, Newsom said it was "necessary to take immediate action to reduce the strain on the energy infrastructure, increase energy capacity, and make energy supply more resilient," to protect Californians'' health and safety.
In addition to more immediate actions to be taken then such as expediting large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects and implementing demand response programmes, SDG&E and the other IOUs, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), and Southern California Edison (SCE) received approvals for microgrids to be constructed over a longer timeframe.
"For communities like mine that often experience outages during power emergencies, we welcome infrastructure that will help keep our lights on and our refrigerators running during difficult times," Nora Vargas, chairwoman of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors said of the new projects.
The microgrids can be remotely operated by SDG&E and function as independent and islanded energy systems or remain connected to the grid. SDG&E did not disclose the technology providers'' names in a release today but said the systems use lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells and have enhanced safety and fire prevention features.
The ability for remote operation also means the microgrids can be monitored in real-time, respond faster to grid events and optimise their performance, including easier management of the BESS assets'' operation.
"Storage and microgrids are key to helping build a more resilient electric grid that can extend the availability of cleaner energy and help our communities better manage through grid emergencies like the extreme heat experienced in recent summers," SDG&E CEO Caroline Winn said.
"These microgrids will actively dispatch clean energy to the grid when needed and help improve energy resiliency for critical facilities like fire stations, schools, and cooling centers in San Diego."
In addition to the lithium-ion battery microgrids being deployed across California, the state is also trying out a number of similar installations using different energy storage technologies, most commonly flow batteries. These offer the potential to provide longer durations of storage at a lower operating cost – albeit at a higher initial Capex spend.
It isn’t just California where the high resiliency and renewables integration value of microgrids is becoming more and more important. In October last year, the US government announced its “biggest-ever investment in the grid,” pledging US$10.5 billion towards projects that included 400 separate microgrids and 35GW of new renewable energy.
Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 6th Energy Storage Summit USA, 19-20 March 2024 in Austin, Texas.Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.
Updated 8 June 2023: Gridstor VP of policy and strategy Jason Burwen offered some more details on the project to Energy-Storage.news. The Goleta facility is a merchant resource, but has a resource adequacy (RA) contract with utility Southern California Edison (SCE), he said. The project is contracted for to provide 40MW of resource adequacy (RA) at 4-hour duration, but has been sized “with the larger 60MW inverter to allow us to respond with greater supply if energy price signals on the California grid signal a higher need,” Burwen said. Tesla Megapack BESS units are being used for the project.
On the company’s strategy and ambitions, Jason Burwen noted that the company’s backing from Goldman Sachs Asset Management (which originated the Goleta project before it was transferred to Gridstor in 2022), “positions us well to critically evaluate positions and acquire battery storage projects throughout the development lifecycle, from early-stage ideas to turnkey operating projects”.
“We additionally have a growing development team focused on originating and developing greenfield projects in key markets. We are evaluating opportunities to invest over US$1 billion across the US in locations with an urgent need for energy storage.”
Burwen, known in the industry as the former policy lead and later interim CEO of the Energy Storage Association (ESA, since merged with the American Clean Power Association), joined Gridstor a few months ago.
US energy storage developer Gridstor has announced the start of construction of its first project, a 60MW/160MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in California.
The Portland, Oregon-headquartered startup was founded last year, and has the backing of Horizon Energy Storage, a fund managed by Goldman Sachs Asset Management''s Sustainable and Infrastructure Investing groups.
Gridstor said last week (31 May) that cranes were putting into place the 44 containerised battery blocks (pictured above) which will comprise the energy storage system, in the California city of Goleta, Santa Barbara County.
While the company''s release on the project was light on specifics – Energy-Storage.news has asked Gridstor a few questions and hopes to be able to update this story accordingly – it did say that adding resiliency to the local community''s electricity supply is a key reason for its installation.
Gridstor said it chooses strategic locations for its standalone grid-connected energy storage projects where the demand for them is greatest. In the case of the community around Goleta''s Cortona Drive, where the project is being built, electricity comes via a limited amount of high-voltage infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the area is prone to electricity supply disruptions from wildfires to mudslides and earthquakes, while Santa Barbara County is largely dependent on fossil fuel resources, including Ellwood Generating Station, a gas-fired peaker plant. The batteries in the Gridstor system will help the community store and utilise more renewable energy, the company said, including during blackouts.
As regular readers of this site will know, California has become the standout leader for grid-scale BESS installations, with more than 5GW and around 20GWh online already. The state''s Clean Energy Transition Plan, published in an updated version recently, emphasises heavily the role energy storage will play in enabling it to achieve its goal of net zero emissions by 2045, while maintaining stability of electricity supply and managing the retirement of legacy thermal generation resources.
Energy-Storage.news previously covered Gridstor when the company bought a 500MW/2,000MWh portfolio of in-development BESS projects in Los Angeles from renewable energy and energy storage developer Upstream Energy.
Those projects are due to come online between 2024 and 2026, while the project in Goleta is scheduled to come online in the Fall of this year. While the Upstream Energy portfolio comprised four-hour duration projects to meet California’s resource adequacy requirements, Goleta appears to be a 2.6-hour duration asset. Gridstor develops, owns and operates standalone energy storage assets exclusively.
This story has been updated post-publication with Jason Burwen from Gridstor’s comments and responses.
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