California has nearly doubled the amount of battery energy storage on its system in two years, hitting 6,000 megawatts of installed capacity, according to the California Energy Commission.
The CEC data, available on the agency’s new energy storage dashboard, shows that the state had 3,170 MW of battery energy storage in 2021 and 770 MW of storage in 2019. The CEC said it is tracking another 1,900 MW of energy storage projects expected to be online by year-end 2023.
The state is projected to need 52,000 MW of energy storage capacity by 2045 to meet electricity demand, the CEC said.
The CEC said its energy storage dashboard presents statewide information for the first time and features data on more than 122,000 residential, commercial, and utility-scale battery installations that are already installed and operating and utility-scale projects that are in development with near-term completion dates. The CEC said the dashboard tracks only battery energy storage systems, which comprise the bulk of the state’s energy storage systems. The CEC said it plans to update data on the dashboard semi-annually.
The CEC said the state’s battery energy storage fleet is a key component of California’s transition to 100 percent clean energy by 2045.
“Energy storage systems are a great example of how we can harness emerging technology to help create the equitable, reliable and affordable energy grid of the future,” Siva Gunda, vice chair of the CEC, said in a statement.
In 2010, the California legislature passed Assembly Bill 2514, requiring the states’ Public Utilities Commission to set targets for California’s investor-owned electric utilities to procure more than 1,300 megawatts of energy storage by 2020. The Commission also the energy storage procurement target for electric service providers and community choice aggregators at 1 percent of their 2020 annual peak load.
As of early August 2018, the state’s three largest IOUs had procured or were in the process of procuring almost 1,500 MW of energy storage related to AB 2514 requirements, according to the California Energy Commission. Projects procured under AB 2514 must be installed by 2024.
Publicly owned utilities in California have installed 63 MW of energy storage capacity, according to the CEC’s energy storage dashboard.
