Massive Battery Energy Storage Plan Proposed by PG&E in California
California-based PG&E has proposed a 1,600 MW energy storage plan to California regulators. The proposal applies to 9 projects across California that are expected to come online between 2023 and 2026 and will help offset the capacity reduction that will be created from planned gas power plant retirements in the southern part of the state, as well as the retirement of PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.
This is a fairly substantial proposal, so let’s take a deeper look!
Details of the Proposed Energy Storage Plan
The proposed plan was developed in response to the California PUC’s 2021 directive that requires the electric utilities within the state to provide / deliver 11.5 GW of new resources to customers. This directive requires a phased approach: 2k MW in 2023, another 6k MW in 2024, another 1.5k MW in 2025, and another 2k MW in 2026.
The specific energy storage plan proposed by PG&E encompasses 9 stand-alone energy storage projects featuring lithium-ion battery technology, each with four hours of storage. The projects are to be developed by a handful of developers: Terra-Gen, Vistra Corp, Strata Clean Energy, NextEra Energy, Arevon Energy and Orgis USA.
These 9 projects were selected via an RFP process that generated 73 offers from 29 companies. If approved, the projects would increase the utility’s total battery storage capacity to 3,330 MW by 2024.
All told, I applaud PG&E for aggressively complying with the PUC directive. The utility has certainly had its fair share of trouble in recent years, everything from getting blamed for allowing faulty equipment to start forest fires and kill people, to filing for bankruptcy. And all of this against a backdrop of aggressive California regulations that require utility companies to jump through hoops to deploy various climate change mitigation strategies.
Clearly, it’s been a rough ride for PG&E in recent years, but this proposed energy storage plan is a step in the right direction.
