Posts

SDG&E Breaks Ground for ‘Microgrid’ in Clairemont to Maximize Renewal Energy

/in , /by /Times of San Diego by City News Service

San Diego Gas & Electric broke ground on the Clairemont microgrid Tuesday, one of four projects the utility has planned at its existing substations.

Once finished, the Clairemont microgrid will be able to provide backup power to San Diego Fire Station 36, the Balboa Branch Library and local schools such as Lafayette Elementary, Sequoia Elementary, Innovation and CPMA Middle Schools and Madison High School.

Microgrids are small-scale grids that can operate independent of or parallel to the larger regional grid to keep critical facilities powered during unexpected outages.

Each microgrid project is paired with energy storage, with the four projects bringing an additional 39 megawatts of battery capacity to the region. SDG&E currently has 95 MW of utility-owned energy storage online, with another 200+ MW in development.

Full Story

San Diego County Aims to Provide More Homes with Power by Storing Energy in reservoir

/in , , /by /Fox Weather Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

Neena Kuzmich, Deputy Director of Engineering at San Diego County Water Authority, with more on the San Vicente Energy Storage Facility Project.

 

San Diego County aims to provide more homes with power by storing energy in reservoir

 

 

Full Story

‘Water Batteries’ Could Store Solar and Wind Power for When It’s Needed

/in , , /by /NPRby Dan Charles Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The San Diego County Water Authority has an unusual plan to use the city’s scenic San Vicente Reservoir to store solar power so it’s available after sunset. The project, and others like it, could help unlock America’s clean energy future.

Full Story

Major Energy Storage Project — Enough to Power 110,000 Homes for 2 Hours — Coming to San Diego

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Rob Nikolewski

A portfolio of 44 battery storage systems across San Diego County aimed at adding more emissions-free energy to California’s electric grid is about to roll out, with one location in Chula Vista and another in El Cajon poised to break ground within the next month.

Full Story

“Water Battery” Being Considered on Mokelumne River

/in , , /by /Sierra Nevada Allyby Scott King

Earlier this year, GreenGenStorage received a renewal of their licensing period to submit Pre-Application Documents to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for their proposed Mokelumne Pumped Storage Water Battery Project. The developer hopes to submit their PAD by the end of the year for the project, which would utilize excess solar and wind energy to power their pumped storage technology, thereby generating electricity for the grid at peak energy-usage hours.

“During the midday peak of solar energy generation, we would pump water uphill to an upper reservoir,” Nicholas Sher, manager at GreenGenStorage said. “Then in the evening where energy usage is consumed the most, we would release that water downstream and it would drive a turbine, thus generating energy. Then by soaking up wind power in the evenings for release in the morning peak hours, we’re essentially just time-shifting renewable energy.”

By using renewable energy to transfer water back and forth between two reservoirs, the project would be a non-consumptive means of using water to generate power. In the case of the Mokelumne Pumped Storage Water Battery Project, the Salt Springs Reservoir has been identified as the lower reservoir, as it already has a small hydro-facility on it that generates about 44 megawatts of energy.

Two options are currently being explored for the upper reservoir that Salt Springs would be connected to via penstock pipes: the Lower Bear or Upper Bear Reservoir.

Full Story

Opinion: To Keep the Lights On, Here’s How California Should Plan for the Extraordinary

/in , , /by /CalMattersby Julia Prochnik

The headlines are grim. Texas’ power grid fails in the midst of a deadly cold snap, putting millions at risk. A historic heat wave brings California’s power grid to its knees, putting millions at risk. Two massive states with two distinctly different approaches to energy, yet still facing a similar outcome: failure and blackouts. In both cases the cause is the same, a failure to plan for extraordinary climate events that are becoming all too ordinary.

In principle, California has moved in the right direction by embracing renewable energy. But in practice, due in part to bureaucratic delay, it has fallen short and now California’s energy leadership is on a precipice. Move forward with bold action to deploy, procure and plan for a diverse and complementary portfolio of renewable energy and storage – and California fulfils its pursuit of a true green energy economy. Hold back and California cedes its energy future to fossil fuels. It should be an easy decision.

Full Story

Batteries Emerge as a ‘Cleaner Alternative’ for Re-Energising the Grid at California Gas Plant

/in , /by /Energy Storage Newsby Andy Colthorpe

When turbines at a natural gas power plant in California go offline, battery energy storage will be used as a ‘much cleaner alternative’ to diesel or other fossil fuels in getting them up and running again.

Siemens Energy has been awarded an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract to deploy large batteries at Marsh Landing Generating Station owned by US infrastructure investor Clearway.

Full Story

Go With the Flow: Battery System in Bonita to be Tested for Use in Microgrids

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Rob Nikolewski

A battery storage demonstration project already providing a carbon-free source of electricity to California’s grid is about to be tested to see how well it can work on microgrids.

Located on a bluff at a San Diego Gas & Electric substation in Bonita, the energy storage project uses vanadium redox flow battery technology that stores electricity when the grid has excess supply and then discharges the energy when the power system needs it.

Full Story

Inside Clean Energy: The Energy Storage Boom Has Arrived

/in , /by /Inside Climate Newsby Dan Gearino

After years of build up, a giant battery storage project is online in Moss Landing, California, and a huge one is on the way in Florida.

Full Story

Large Energy Storage Project Would Create New Reservoir Above Isabella Lake

/in , /by /Bakersfield.comby John Cox

A $3 billion pumped-water energy storage project has been proposed along Isabella Lake that would help even out power delivery from California solar and wind farms at a volume and longevity dwarfing the large battery installations envisioned for eastern Kern.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is reviewing a Walnut engineering company’s plan to create a new reservoir above the lake then use pumps and underground pipes to turn it into a rechargeable dam and hydroelectric generator putting out a whopping 2,000 megawatts of power for up to 12 hours at a time.

Full Story