Energy storage provided a gigawatt of power to the grid in California during a wildfire in July last year, helping to keep the lights on.

California’s second-largest investor-owned utility Pacific Gas & Electric has warned customers of a challenging summer ahead, beginning with a record-breaking heatwave expected in some parts of the state this week.

While planning a better future for California’s energy system will take time and lies in the hands of many, many stakeholders from regulators to government to citizens and corporations, here are a few more of the recent moves forwards in clean energy in the state.

News in brief from around the world in energy storage.

Clean Power Alliance, one of California’s community choice aggregator (CCA) groups has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with developer 8minute Solar Energy for the output of a massive solar-plus-storage plant.

Update 21 August 2020: An LS Power representative contacted Energy-Storage.news to provide further information on the Gateway project’s storage capacity.

Power shut-offs affecting millions in California, enacted by utilities Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Southern California Edison to prevent wildfires and their spreading, are a “draconian” measure and don’t address the real problems, SimpliPhi Power CEO Catherine Von Burg has said.