A two-hour period during evening peak on April 16 marked the first time that battery storage became the largest source of supply in the California grid, surpassing gas, hydro, nuclear and renewables.
During this period, the output of battery storage topped 6 gigawatts (GW) for the first time.
Data tracker Grid Status reported the peak output of 6,177 megawatts (MW) from battery storage at 8:10 p.m. local time was nearly 10 percent higher than California’s previous peak of 5,625 MW reached February 15 this year.
Illustrating the change in technologies supporting California’s grid, the record output for battery storage five years ago was only 120 MWs. The California grid is one of the world’s largest, delivering electricity to the world’s fifth-biggest economy.
According to the California Energy Commission, as of October 2023, the state had about 6.6 GW of battery storage installed, of which 5.2 GW was utility– scale. Commissioning for an additional 1.9 GW is in the works, with about 52 GW of battery storage needed to meet the state’s goal of carbon-free sourcing by 2045.
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