California regulators on Thursday approved new maintenance and operation standards for battery storage resources, including requiring facility owners to develop emergency response and emergency action plans.
The state sees batteries as a way to reduce fossil fuel use, storing renewable energy during the day for later use, California Public Utilities Commission President Alice Reynolds said at Thursday’s open meeting. However, “we have to be very, very aware of the safety risk,” she said.
A January fire at Vistra Energy’s Moss Landing battery facility in California led to calls for greater scrutiny of battery safety rules.
Along with new safety standards for the maintenance and operation of energy storage systems, the CPUC said it “made explicit that battery storage facility owners must develop emergency response and emergency action plans,” as required by state law. The commission also made other technical updates, including establishing technical logbook standards for battery storage systems and expanding requirements for emergency plans that relate to all electric generating facilities.
Battery storage in California has grown rapidly in recent years, expanding from about 500 MW in 2019 to more than 13,000 MW last year, according to the commission. The state’s installed battery storage capacity is now over 20% of California’s peak demand and the state’s projected need for battery storage capacity is estimated at 52,000 MW by 2045, the CPUC said.
The CPUC also authorized San Diego Gas & Electric to expand its Westside Canal Battery Energy Storage facility in California's Imperial Valley, the Sempra utility said Friday. The project will add 100 MW to the existing 131-MW facility and is expected to be operational by June.
"The expansion of Westside Canal is a critical step toward strengthening our region's energy resiliency and advancing California's clean-energy goals," SDG&E CEO Caroline Winn said in a statement. The utility said its owned battery storage portfolio is expected to reach nearly 480 MW of power capacity and over 1.9 GWh of energy storage by the end of this year.
The Westside expansion will add generation capacity to the grid while also providing ancillary services, energy balancing and congestion management, the utility said.
"By increasing storage capacity, we can allow more clean energy to be efficiently stored and dispatched when it's needed most, helping to create a more resilient and sustainable grid for our communities,” Winn said.
