Batteries can store energy around the clock, without exception. Gas-burning power stations start up and produce electricity almost immediately. However, solar and wind generators can only do so when they are online to nature. A solution is coming together smoothly as California grid batteries make their presence felt, and at a scale we never previously imagined.
California Installing Grid Batteries in Huge Volumes
Efficient energy storage is essential if we are to harvest wind and solar power in useful volumes. Electrochemical batteries are the almost universally preferred medium, although other technologies are appearing. California grid batteries have increased utility storage tenfold in the past three years according to Money Web.
In 2020, the sunshine state had just 500 megawatts of the resource. But now it is has 5,500 megawatts, and counting as we write according to the California Independent System Operator. This capacity would be sufficient to power 3.8 million homes for some four hours if called on to do so.
“Our state is experiencing more frequent climate extremes such as record heat waves and droughts. This makes it essential to invest in innovative technologies like energy storage. To make sure we can continue to reliably power the world’s fourth largest economy,” the grid operator’s chief executive officer told Bloomberg.
The Principles of Battery Energy Storage
Electrical engineers refer to those California grid batteries as battery energy storage systems, or BESS for short. The term ‘system’ refers to the fact that they are more than giant battery sets, and are able to connect seamlessly to power grids.
Their components include inverters to adapt electricity from AC to DC, and vice versa. Then there may also be isolation transformers, circuit breakers, cooling systems, and high-level control mechanisms to ensure the BESS functions smoothly. Research is ongoing to increase the round trip efficiency of these key battery systems.
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