According to PG&E, in January it was authorised by CPUC to open an "accelerated solicitation for energy storage projects" that will help strengthen three specified areas of the Central Valley region in California.
This led to PG&E selecting the four projects to help shore up the state’s grid.
The first is set to be a 300MW/1.2GWh project, owned by Vistra Energy. This site, due online in Q4 2020, is set to be the largest lithium-ion battery storage project in the world.
It will be backed by a 20-year "resource adequacy contract" with PG&E, Vistra said.
Vistra said it would use an existing gas turbine building at the Moss Landing power plant to house the batteries, while also utilise the grid interconnection from mothballed Moss Landing gas power units – thereby lowering costs.
A second site, if approved, could be a 182.5MW/730MWh lithium-ion battery at PG&E’s Moss Landing substation, which will operate on the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) electricity market, thereby providing ancilliary services.
It will be built by Elon Musk’s Tesla and owned by PG&E. It is due online in 2019-20 and will operate for 20 years.
The other sites include a 75MW/300MWh site, which would operate for 15 years, and a 10MW/40MWh lithium ion "behind the meter" project.
The CPUC pushed PG&E to source lower cost alternatives to the Calpine gas plants, which had requested expensive "must-run" status in order to provide grid reliability.
.png)
.png)
