Southern California Edison has announced that it is trying to land a $65 million grant from the DOE for a pilot storage project and a project that would integrate home energy management systems into the grid.

The storage project would be used to store wind power, and when completed would be the largest ever used for utility scale applications.

Battery manufacturer, A123 Systems has been tapped for the project, which will use a series of batteries in an 8,000-square-foot building at an existing substation in Tehachapi, CA. This is where Southern California Edison is expected to have about 4,500 megawatts of wind power by 2015.

For the smart grid project, Southern California Edison will work with SunPower Corporation, GE and Boeing.

Between smart grid integration and new storage capabilities, it is becoming increasingly clear that the utilities are no longer playing the waiting game on renewable energy integration. It's happening. . .and it's happening now.

Jeff