California may deploy 2GW to 11GW of long-term energy storage systems by 2030

According to foreign media reports, California recently announced $380 million in financial support for long-term energy storage projects, a move that may incentivize the deployment of about 20 more long-term energy storage projects in the state, which has a huge demand for energy storage systems. need,


California Governor Gavin Newsom recently released the government budget plan for 2022-2023. The long-duration energy storage funding is part of California’s $2 billion clean energy investment plan, which also funds green hydrogen, decarbonizing buildings, construction of a pumped-storage plant at the Oroville Dam and other measures.


An advanced compressed air energy storage facility deployed and operated by Hydrostor in Ontario, Canada. The company is developing two compressed air energy storage projects in California with a combined storage capacity of more than 7GWh.


While there is still a huge controversy in California's green energy industry, and the future of the rooftop solar net metering (NEM) policy is questionable, the support for energy storage has been welcomed by the California Long-Term Energy Storage Association.


"We applaud Governor Newsom for reaffirming his commitment to addressing California's urgently changing energy needs and will provide equitable climate solutions that contribute to the 2022 California Blueprint," Julia Prochnik, executive director of the association, said in a statement. ready.


A two-year, $380 million grant from the Fund encourages the deployment of more long-duration energy storage projects across the state to support grid reliability and resiliency. This grant will incentivize the deployment of a variety of long-duration energy storage systems to meet the growing demand and scale of renewable energy generation, which can power the grid for hours and days. "


Huge energy storage needs


California has set its own energy policy goals: by 2045, source 60% of its electricity from renewable sources and completely eliminate greenhouse gases (GHGs) from the power sector.


According to a research report released in late 2020 by research firm Stategen Consulting and the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA), this means that California will need to deploy 2GW to 11GW of long-term energy storage systems by 2030. And by 2045, this demand could grow to 45GW to 55GW.


California is already far ahead in deploying solar and battery storage systems. California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) executive director Alex Morris claimed in a recent blog post that California’s independently deployed battery storage capacity has grown from 500MW in mid-2020 to more than 3GW by the end of 2021.


While lithium-ion battery storage systems, which last almost four hours of discharge, helped the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) avoid the severe power shortages predicted last summer, the state's higher share of renewable energy generation has The higher the demand for long-term energy storage systems.


Industry media interviewed Curtis Van Walleghem, CEO of Hydrostor, a new advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) technology that has secured investment from Goldman Sachs Asset Management, shortly after the state government's budget plan was announced. $250 million commitment.


Hydrostor is seeking to build 900MW/7.2GWh of advanced compressed air energy storage projects with a duration of 8 hours of discharge at two sites in California and has submitted a project permit application.


"California is really leading the way when it comes to transitioning to clean and renewable energy," Van Walleghem said.


California, with its massive economy, was one of the first regions in the United States to wean itself off coal, and is now working to wean itself off natural gas and nuclear power. The Hydrostor CEO noted that California has a higher penetration of renewable energy than anywhere else in the United States — where the famous duck curve of solar power versus energy demand appears.


"California has a huge need for energy storage. But they're really an industry leader in terms of where this energy transition is going," he said.


Large amounts of energy storage systems will need to be deployed around the world in the coming years. But for California, it's going a step further in the energy transition, given its years of development in renewable energy.


Van Walleghem said the $380 million in funds budgeted to support long-duration energy storage should be viewed as a grant program that they hope will help get more energy storage projects deployed more quickly.


While in this grand scheme, it will take tens of billions of dollars to decarbonize the grid and increase demand for energy storage in California and elsewhere. $380 million might not seem like a lot of money in this context, but the money could kickstart 10 to 20 energy storage projects and help them get to work.


one of many levers


He explained that the funding is just one of many different levers to help try and accelerate the deployment of energy storage and help drive the fight against climate change.


There are other such levers in California, which, like other U.S. states, is already at the forefront of the energy transition.


In May last year, the state’s regulator, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), called for the procurement of 1GW of long-duration storage, or technology with a continuous discharge duration of eight to 100 hours, in 2026.


In August of last year, when it declared a state of emergency on climate and energy issues, the California government released a roadmap to achieve its 100% clean energy goal: long-term energy storage was included in the roadmap as one of the five pillars of the state's future energy system one.


California also provides funding for demonstration projects that can enable communities in at-risk areas to recover from power outages caused by natural disasters or grid failures, such as a California Energy Commission (CEC) grant for a project that will Grant for a project combining four non-lithium energy storage technologies, and a microgrid built using a vanadium flow battery energy storage system.


California community energy supply group Central Coast Community Energy (CCCE) announced three flow battery energy storage projects with a combined storage capacity of 226MWh in November this year, while other such community choice aggregators (CCAs) are jointly bidding to deploy 500MW of long-term storage capacity. time energy storage.


Curtis Van Walleghem of Hydrostor noted that there is also some support from the US federal government. The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Lending Programs recently reopened with $40 billion to support clean energy technologies, while the U.S. Office of Clean Energy Demonstration is in the works, with $20 billion to fund technologies such as long-duration energy storage and green hydrogen.


U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has been emphasizing the important role of long-term energy storage systems, planning to build a long-term energy storage research facility in 2025, and said that more long-term energy storage systems need to be deployed in order to achieve this in 2030. Rapid decarbonization.


The Build Back Better Act approved by President Biden includes the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for independently deploying energy storage systems, which could reduce the investment cost of deployment by about one-third. The CEO of Hydrostor said this is an important incentive to boost the energy storage industry.


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