Battery Storage Growth to Fill Supply Gaps for States
Oil Price author Irina Slav has an interesting story up about California using battery storage of GWs to fill in the supply gaps during Summer electricity needs due to heat. Brief and a short paragraph taken from the article Rapid Battery Storage Growth Will Help California Avoid Blackouts This Summer.
California could avoid rolling blackouts this summer thanks to a fast buildout in battery storage capacity, the state’s Energy Commission said this week.
Since 2020, California has added 18.5 gigawatts of “new resources” as Bloomberg put it in a report on the news. These include 6.6 GW in battery storage capacity, 6.3 GW of solar generation capacity, and 1.4 GW of solar plus storage, the California Energy Commission said.
These should provide supply security during the hottest months of the year, in combination with hydropower, which has increased after two wet winters, the authority also said. In case of extreme heat, the capacity already built could supply an additional 5 GW of electricity, helped by so-called peaker gas-fired plants. (The reader can finish the story themselves)
I read the article and then I begin to wonder why California’s neighbor (Texas ) can not do similar to stave off issues of a greater electrical need. “Texas Has Had the Most Power Outages Over Past 5 Years,” Governing. Claire Hao, San Antonio Express-News, TNS.
As the nation’s energy capital, it’s no surprise Texas ranks first in many energy-related metrics. One of those, unfortunately, turns out to be the number of power outages across the country over the last five years.
There have been 263 power outages across Texas since 2019, more than any other state, each lasting an average of 160 minutes and impacting an estimated average of 172,000 Texans, according to an analysis by electricity retailer Payless Power. California ranked second with 221 outages from 2019 to 2023, while Washington placed third with 118, according to Adi Sachdeva, data researcher at Payless Power. The report was based on data from the Department of Energy. Again, the reader can finish the story themselves.
The only difference between the two states is when the need is required and the weather during that period.. California has summer needs and Texas shortages are in Winter. The question would be, what works in California during the summer, could it work in Texas during winter months?
If the concept is to charge the batteries with solar and hydro, I do think it’s a longer putt in Texas winter than California summer. Due to length of day and inclination, solar efficiency is much lower in winter than summer. Seasonal cloud cover possibly is a California advantage (cloudier when solar is less efficient and demand is less critical). Topographically, California probably has an edge on hydro, too, if it rains.
Eric:
I suspect they get more sun all year around in Texas than in Wisconsin.
i lived in Florida before air conditioning was a thing. got hot a few times. but we lived through it. i lived in southern California w’o air conditions for years and never even thought about it.
it may be hotter now than it was then. but that is because we generate so much CO2 making electricity to run air conditioners.
Interesting!
Tesla model 3 battery is 60kw.
6.6 Giga watts (6.6 million homes 4 hours per California site) would be 1.1 million tesla model 3 equivalent batteries.
Some home PV systems are encouraging battery installation for leveling intermittency, which may also be tallies in Ca statistics.
What do those batteries look like?
Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) 101| Lightsource bp
I have heard of studies done to use recycled automobile batteries, I do not know results and/or issues.
That is a lot of lithium.
Here in the foothills of Colorado we have a Texas based energy provider and have lots of power outages. Not because of supply issues but because of poor grid maintenance. Instead of upgrading the grid their response is to subsidize the purchase of Tesla Power walls with an agreement that you allow them to tap into it up to fifty times per year.
SW:
I heard that also. And Texas rips on California. And people move to Texas.
That type of arrangement was floated in CA a while back, but I haven’t seen anything more about it. It is the type of thing that Edison would push if it were available, but the whole rate structure is in flux and it may be a wait and see.
We have had articles on how we have an excess of solar in CA, with sequestration required, but in the last month they have put in a huge solar field near Ridgecrest. There is more going on there, so it may be even more panels.