Battery Storage Technology Making Inroads Into Local Generation Portfolios

摘要

Utility-scale battery storage,in its infancy just two years ago,is now part of the long-range plans of some communities in California-a state that is working to push natural gas into the shadows(p3).Prompted by California's push toward 100% fossil-fuel-free electricity by 2045,the city of Glendale has adopted a plan to repower an aging gas plant with a 75 megawatt/300 megawatt hour Tesla battery installation.The plan relies on a combination of wind and solar,as well as units that can be converted to run on biogas,renewable natural gas or even hydrogen.Battery costs have fallen dramatically,but there's still a ways to go before the combined cost of batteries plus renewables could replace gas or other baseload energy forms.Experts predict battery storage will soon make it even easier for solar photovoltaics(PV)and other intermittent renewables to gain ground over fossil fuels by allowing a better supply-demand match.Many companies are looking at this new market,including Flu-ence,an AES-Siemens joint venture,and most vocal of all,Tesla.