By concluding another solicitation for energy storage resources, SCE continues its run as one of the country’s leading utilities in storage deployment. SCE’s vision to add 30 GW of additional renewable capacity to California’s electric grid by 2030 makes energy storage increasingly important.

The seven new projects, which remain subject to California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approval, further the utility’s clean energy goals.

“Unlike other solicitations to increase the generation capacity of the overall electric system, this solicitation specifically sought to meet local needs in the Moorpark area and address electrical energy storage needs related to restricted natural gas operations at Southern California Gas Company’s Aliso Canyon Natural Gas Field,” Colin Cushnie, vice president of energy procurement and management at SEC, said in a statement.

SCE’s Aliso Canyon Energy Storage 2 request for offers and the Local Capacity requirements request for proposal targeted clean energy resources connecting through the Santa Clara and Goleta substations to address local reliability needs, the company said.

The latest SCE procurement comes only months after Pacific Gas & Electric received the CPUC’s approval for four energy storage projects totaling 567.5 MW / 2,270 MWh in capacity.

Energy storage has helped decrease California’s reliance on gas for years, particularly since 2016, when regulators ordered accelerated battery procurements to counteract the closure of a natural gas storage facility outside Los Angeles.

Utilities across the country are increasingly turning to energy storage. The technology is vital as it turns power generated by non-dispatchable energy sources, such as wind and solar, into dispatchable ones, improving grid reliability and allowing the integration of even more renewable capacity.

However, there are some concerns regarding the safety of large-scale energy storage facilities, in particular those using lithium-ion batteries.

A recent explosion at an Arizona Public Service (APS) facility that sent four fire fighters to the hospital highlighted those concerns, though the exact cause of the accident remains under investigation.

“The question of how you manage these things safely, when you’ve got thousands of these cells in close proximity, that’s still a work in progress,” Donald Sadoway, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an expert in battery technology, told Utility Dive.

APS, the largest investor-owned utility in Arizona, has been a leader in the procurement of energy storage. In February, the utility announced that it will add 850 MW of battery storage and at least 100 MW of solar generation by 2025. Despite the incident at its McMicken facility, the utility plans to follow through with its plans.

“As far as we are concerned, we know that energy storage, including batteries, is vital to a clean energy future. We will continue with our plans to add clean energy projects to our system,” Lily Quezada, APS spokesperson, said. “[It] is a breakthrough technology that is solving important issues and challenges. We are still committed to our plans.”

Concerns in the industry
The fire at its storage facility in Surprise, Arizona was not the first such incident for APS. Back in 2012, a 1.5-MW system near Flagstaff, Arizona also caught fire. The utility said it took several key design lessons from the 2012 fire, including improving air ventilation between cabinets, incorporating a 24/7 monitoring system and the ability to send remote alarms.

Fox News and other right-wing media have done a good job of convincing the conservative base to oppose Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’ (D-New York) Green New Deal. However, the plan has not lost its magic in the blue states.

The Green New Deal has served to inspire policies from both presidential candidates and state leaders, but its most ambitious form yet may come at the city level. At least that is the bar that Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti set yesterday with the roll out of a plan dubbed L.A.’s Green New Deal, whose 13 points cover everything from solar to single-use plastic, with a strong current of environmental justice and equity initiatives that shows the ideological inspiration of the original.

There’s far more to cover in the 151-page plan than any one article can do justice to, but among the top-line is an acceleration of the energy transition in electricity, with goals of 55% renewables by 2025 and 80% by 2036, and host of policies to enable a rapid build-out of local solar and energy storage.

This is not the only bold move; the plan also mandates that all new city-owned buildings and major renovations be all-electric, as well as setting a target for every single building in the city to become emissions-free by 2050 – with a major focus on electrification to meet that target.

Finally, the plan calls for an increase in the portion of electric and zero-emissions vehicles in the city to 25% by 2025, 80% by 2035 and 100% by 2050.