Southern California Edison (SCE) has signed long-term contracts for four energy storage projects totalling 590MW.
One deal is with NextEra Energy for the 325MW Desert Peak battery development, which is due online in August 2023.
A second is with Recurrent Energy for the 200MW Crimson facility, which is expected to be operational by August 2022.
The other two are a 60MW project being developed by 174 Power Global and Hanwha Group and a 5MW behind-the-meter facility produced by Sunrun, expected online in August 2022 and 2023, respectively.
The contracts increase SCE’s total amount of installed and procured battery storage capacity to approximately 2050MW.
SCE vice president of energy procurement and management William Walsh said: “Bringing more utility-scale battery storage resources online will improve the reliability of the grid and further the integration of renewable generation resources, like wind and solar, into the grid.
“As California transitions to 100% clean renewable energy to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving climate change, battery storage will play a key role in harnessing the value of these cost-effective, carbon-free resources in a reliable manner.”
One of the many ways these flexible energy resources can be used is by capturing solar energy during the day and distributing the energy as the sun sets and energy use remains high, SCE said.
It added that the plants can also be used to respond to the California Independent System Operator signals, high-demand events, heat waves or when the energy grid is strained.