Advanced Microgrid Solutions taps Tesla in huge battery buy for CA grid

Dive Brief:

Advanced Microgrid Solutions (AMS) has tapped Tesla to provide battery technology for its utility-scale energy storage projects, agreeing to install up to 500 MWh of battery capacity to provide grid support in southern California.
As Fortune points out, the size of the storage deal is equivalent to installing tens of thousands of Tesla's new "battery wall" systems, which the company unveiled earlier this year to help utilities integrate renewables, supoort grid reliability, and potentially help some customers go off grid.
Last year, AMS secured a contract with Southern California Edison (SCE) to provide 50 MW of storage. AMS will install the batteries at commercial and industrial buildings in the West Los Angeles service territory to provide large-scale grid support to the utility.

Dive Insight:

AMS has announced plans to install 500 MWh of Tesla batteries for utility-scale storage projects, after it secured 50 MW of contracts to build grid-scale energy storage projects for Southern California Edison. Black & Veatch is on board with enginnering and construction.

"Tesla's focus on performance and design makes them the stand out technology choice for our projects," Susan Kennedy, CEO of AMS, said in a statement. "AMS' projects require intelligent, powerful and scalable energy storage solutions. Tesla's technology gives us the edge we are looking for."

With the new technology, customer loads can be used as a virtual power plant by utilities. AMS said it aggregate the distributed systems into regional fleets that provide clean, fully dispatchable load reduction to utilities.

"This is all about building resilience into the grid," said Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, co-founder of AMS. "Energy storage turns traditional demand response into firm, reliable capacity – it changes everything about the way the grid is operated."

AMS' first 10-MW hybrid-electric building project will be installed in California next year, and the company said it also intends to sign battery supply agreements with additional technology providers.