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California passes 5GW of grid-scale battery storage

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California has passed 5GW of grid-scale battery storage energy storage (BESS) projects, grid operator CAISO has revealed.

The state has long been a leader for BESS deployments, with an ambitious renewable energy goal of 90% by 2030 and the Resource Adequacy framework enabling long-term remuneration of large-scale BESS projects providing certainty for investments.

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As of the start of this month, the state now has 5.6GW of grid-scale connected BESS online, CEO Elliot Mainzer said this week (11 July).

“With our state experiencing more frequent climate extremes such as record heat waves and droughts, it is essential to invest in innovative technologies like energy storage to make sure we can continue to reliably power the world’s 4th largest economy,” Mainzer said.

The year started off quietly for the state, however, with CAISO’s official figures showing virtually no large-scale projects coming online in the first quarter, with the capacity actually decreasing from December 2022 to January 2023, shown in the graph below. In its place, the ERCOT, Texas market, led the charge, accounting for 70% of nationwide deployments in the first three months of the year.

Activity in California has picked up in the second quarter, with commissioned projects covered by Energy-Storage.news from global energy firm RWE and utility SDG&E.

Projects in California make the bulk of their revenues from Resource Adequacy agreements with utilities like SDG&E, the other investor-owned utilities PG&E and SCE, as well as various smaller electric co-operatives like community choice aggregators (CCAs), as well as trading energy.

The ancillary services market in California is relatively small compared to the quantity of grid-scale BESS, so these account for very small part of revenues for projects.

Solar PV-heavy markets like the southern US and south of Europe tend to be more of an energy, load shifting opportunity while wind-heavy markets like the Nordics, UK and Germany lean more towards the provision of ancillary services.

See all Energy-Storage.news coverage of the California market here.

22 October 2024
New York, USA
Returning for its 11th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
18 March 2025
Austin, Texas
The Energy Storage Summit USA is the only place where you are guaranteed to meet all the most important investors, developers, IPPs, RTOs and ISOs, policymakers, utilities, energy buyers, service providers, consultancies and technology providers in one room, to ensure that your deals get done as efficiently as possible. Book your ticket today to join us in 2025!
27 May 2025
London, UK
At the time of writing, Europe had had its most successful year in terms of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with a record 7.8GW of renewable energy contracts signed. As we gather in May 2024 for the third edition of the Renewable Energy Revenues Summit, the energy landscape continues to evolve rapidly, influenced by the beating drum of climate change, volatility around power prices and the need to decarbonise power procurement as well as generation.

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