AES Alamitos, a unit of The AES Corp., announces the groundbreaking of a 400 MWh battery-based energy storage system for Alamitos Energy Center as part of a larger modernization and replacement project of the existing AES Alamitos Generating Station.
The energy storage facility in Long Beach will provide up to 400 MWh of local energy to ensure power flexibility and reliability for Southern California Edison (SCE) customers, while helping the state meet its target of 100 percent clean energy by 2045.
While the AES Alamitos facility was procured specifically to provide power at times of peak demand, it will also support grid modernization, increase the integration of renewable energy, and lower costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
Supplied by Fluence, a energy storage and technology services provider, the storage used for the project will include the company’s Advancion 5 batteries and control systems; when fully charged, the batteries will be able to supply power to tens of thousands of homes in milliseconds.
AES Southland was awarded a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) by SCE in 2014 to provide 100 MW of interconnected energy storage. It is part of a $2 billion repowering initiative in Long Beach to replace aging natural gas peakers with a combination of efficient combined-cycle gas capacity and battery energy storage, which is now a viable alternative to replace traditional thermal generation to meet peak power demands.
Together with the AES AEC combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT), this project will result in more than $132 million in local purchases, 1.48 million hours in construction-related work, and a payroll of over $315 million.
At completion – projected for late 2020 – the new AEC will not only be cleaner and more responsive to California’s energy needs, but it will also contribute between $12.3 and $14.6 million annually to the local economy.
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