Grid Storage for Renewables Integration

Kelly Warner – President, Advanced Microgrid Solutions
Todd Strauss – Senior Director, PG&E
Kate McGinnis – Market Director, AES Energy Storage
Barry Cinnamon – CEO, Cinnamon Energy Systems
Moderator: Jeff Byron, Band of Angels

What will it take in terms of megawatts of energy storage and dollars to flatten the belly of the famous duck curve in California and meet the 2030 RPS goals?

What storage solutions will prevail - customer-side, behind the meter or utility scale, in front of the meter,?

What are the costs and benefits of each type of solution?

In mid-May California broke a record on one day with 67% of its power being generated by renewable sources of electricity on the portion of the grid controlled by the CAISO. While this is a major achievement, sustaining this level of renewable power generation from a variety of sources is a challenge.

California is a leader not only in renewable energy sources but also in energy storage. It has one of the country’s highest renewable portfolio standards requiring 50% of its energy generation to be powered by renewable resources by 2030. Currently at 27% of our electricity coming from renewable sources, we are ahead of our RPS goals of meeting 33% renewables by 2020.

The electric grid is a complex system in which energy supply and demand must always match at any given time. Since renewable sources like wind and solar are subject to variability, energy storage helps to smooth out the differences between energy supply and demand. It stores excess energy when supply exceeds demand, and dispatches energy when demand exceeds supply.

Today’s energy storage companies are going a step further by not only providing backup power to customers or the grid but also providing the ability to respond instantaneously to the utility grid needs. This combination of flexibility and ability to dispatch is a valuable asset.

Until recently, the cost of energy storage has been prohibitive, but battery prices have been declining rapidly in recent years and are projected to continue to decline with technology improvements and manufacturing scale.

Note: While other storage technologies are also being developed, this discussion will focus on chemical batteries, which are by far the most common.