Assembly representative Nancy Skinner and California state Attorney General Jerry Brown are backing a bill that will require utilities to obtain 2.25% of their peak power from storage systems by 2014, and 5% of their peak power from storage by 2020.
Right now, peak energy demand for the state of California is 29,000 megawatts by grid operator California ISO.
That means that the state will need to store 1,450 megawatts in order to comply with the goals outlined in the new legislation.
The bill - AB 2514 - is the first of its kind to be introduced at the state level, though the state's Self Generation Incentive Program already offers incentives for energy storage at industrial and commercial sites.
The new legislation will help consumers cut back on their energy costs while at the same time supplying thousands of permanent new jobs.
Advanced energy storage solutions would also make other renewable sources of energy (such as wind farms and solar arrays) more useful by storing the electricity they generate.
Energy storage technologies vary in their power capacities and discharge durations. They also include mechanical, chemical, and thermal processes for storing energy for use at a later time.
Flywheels, for example, provide short-term storage - they only store energy for a few seconds or minutes. They are, however, already relatively economical.
Persistent storage systems that can store energy for hours (or store power generated during off peak hours for consumption during peak periods) are not as economical.
Right now, batteries used in persistent storage systems sell for $500 per kilowatt hour. In order to make persistent storage systems work long-term, the price needs to be lowered to $250 or below.
Pacific Gas & Electric is just one of a few utilities that are already moving forward with plans to develop energy storage systems.
PG&E is currently building a 4-megawatt sodium sulfur battery station in Silicon Valley and a 300-megawatt compressed air storage facility with a gigawatt-plus pumped hydro station.
The compressed air field being developed by PG&E will be able to store energy at $120 per kilowatt.
Another company, SustainX, is also building an industrial compressed air storage system, but it remains mostly in the experimental stage.
Ice Energy, a company located in southern California, has partnered with utilities to install 53 megawatts of its ice-powered air conditioners in the region.
Ice-powered air conditioners shift air conditioning - a peak power function - to nighttime.
By simply installing ice-powered air conditioners, some utilities will be able to hit their 2014 goals in the near term.
Worldwide, approximately a gigawatt of grid storage has been installed. In the U.S., storage has been primarily a theory. Until now.
If AB 2514 gets passed, energy storage may evolve from a theory into a reality.
Until next time,
Hilary
Subscribe to