The San Diego County Water Authority is expecting to save approximately $100,000 per year with commercial-scale batteries installed at the agency’s solar-powered Twin Oaks Valley Water Treatment Plant near San Marcos.
The energy storage system is designed to reduce operational costs at the facility by storing low-cost energy for use during high-demand periods when energy prices increase.
The batteries were installed at no charge to the agency as part of an agreement with Santa Clara-based ENGIE Storage, formerly known as Green Charge.
The system charges from either the grid or on-site solar energy production to store energy. ENGIE Storage’s GridSynergy software allows the water authority to use that energy for plant operations during high-demand periods when market prices typically peak. At the Twin Oaks facility, on-site energy is generated by more than 4,800 solar panels that produce an estimated 1.75 million kWh of electricity each year.
“Energy storage is a strategic addition to the water authority’s solar energy installations, which have already reduced power costs and made the agency more environmentally friendly,” says Mark Muir, chair of the water authority’s board of directors. “This project is a good example of how we continually look for ways to maximize investments in the regional water treatment and delivery system to the benefit of our ratepayers. This includes advances in our growing list of energy initiatives.”
ENGIE Storage installed the batteries at Twin Oaks through a power efficiency agreement to install, at no cost to the water authority, a 1 MW/2 MWh energy storage system. ENGIE will own, operate and maintain the $2 million system on water authority land for 10 years, after which the agency can choose to extend the agreement, purchase the batteries, or have them removed and the site returned to its original condition.
A $1 million incentive from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) helped fund the project. The incentive, awarded in 2017 under the CPUC’s Self Generation Incentive Program, encourages the adoption of energy storage technologies that reduce both electricity demand and greenhouse gases.
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