Pacific Gas & Electric is asking state regulators to approve another massive round of energy storage procurements, including its first large-scale contract for behind-the-meter batteries to serve grid needs.
The six projects announced Wednesday add up to 387 megawatts and 1,548 megawatt-hours of energy storage, including two utility-scale solar-storage systems in Southern California and three standalone battery installations across the state.
But the 27-megawatt/108-megawatt-hour behind-the-meter battery project represents a departure from PG&E’s current roster of utility-scale storage contracts. The 15-year agreement calls for Nexus Renewables Inc., a portfolio company of Ontario, Canada-based Nexus Energy, to deploy a fleet of batteries at multiple sites in PG&E service territory and provide them for grid services starting in August 2022.
UPDATE: Nexus sources its energy storage equipment through Fluence, a prominent energy storage systems integrator, and operates its systems through its energy trading and dispatching desk, PG&E spokesman Paul Doherty said in a Wednesday email.
Amcor, an Australian-based packaging materials manufacturer with several facilities in Northern California, will host the batteries a common industrial zone in PG&E’s service area, Doherty said. That will allow the batteries to provide backup and resiliency features for the host sites, as well as providing PG&E with resource adequacy value to bolster grid reliability.
This foray into behind-the-meter battery aggregation comes as part of PG&E’s efforts to meet the California Public Utilities Commission’s call for energy storage and other resources to help balance the state’s increasingly solar power-influenced grid.
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