Battery Energy Storage Capacity Quadrupled

Portland General Electric has partnered with NextEra Energy Resources to build the first-of-its-kind utility-scale wind, solar and battery facility.  "I think you’re going to see more of these types of facilities in the future,” said Kristen Sheeran, PGE’s director of sustainability strategy.  While renewables armed with storage systems are still a relatively new technology, more and more projects are taking shape.

 Earlier this year, the American Clean Power Association (ACP) stated that, measured in energy, utility-scale battery energy storage (BESS) capacity has quadrupled. “One of the great things about having battery storage integrated into the other two technologies [wind and solar], is it’s already engineered and built for augmentation,” said David Lawlor, NextEra’s director of development for the Pacific Northwest.  The batteries store 30 megawatts, or enough to power the city of Tigard for four hours.  A landfill in Houston, Texas will host a 52MW solar and 150MWh energy storage system.  50MW will be utility-scale electricity by CenterPoint Energy, Wolfe Energy and BQ Energy and another 2MW will be dedicated to community solar.  The 150MWh of battery energy storage will increase resilience and reliability of ERCOT’s grid. 

The last two years haven’t helped the development of battery storage technologies.  “Supply chain constraints continue to impede project timelines, rising costs pressure project economics, and long, slow interconnection queues slow progress. For solar, a so far elusive resolution to the Withhold Release Order (WRO) threatens to further delay projects or even lead to their cancellation,” the ACP stated. 

Despite rising costs and supply chain issues, several projects will soon be underway. In fact, renewable electricity growth is accelerating faster than ever worldwide.  According to IEA, global renewable electricity capacity is forecast to rise more than 60 percent by 2026.  In conjunction with those projections, Governor Hochul announced awards for 22 large-scale solar and energy storage projects to power 620,000 New York homes.  “With the largest portfolio of projects awarded to date, New York is strengthening an already massive renewable energy pipeline that is positioned to deliver increasing amounts of clean and affordable electricity to thousands of families across the state for years to come,” said Doreen M. Harris, President and CEO NYSERDA and Climate Action Council Co-Chair.