Time to Think Differently About Energy Storage and California's Grid

With nearly 60% of the state’s electricity generated from solar, wind, and geothermal energy, California is well past the halfway mark to its goal of 100% renewable power generation by 2045. But this comes with major challenges, both financial and environmental. Mainly, generating adequate electricity during the hours when the sun is not shining is becoming more expensive, polluting, and inefficient, ultimately putting economic stability and business growth at risk.

The answer to this situation is not just more grid-level renewable energy or chemical batteries, as lobbyists and legislators often state—or even more coal or natural gas for peaker plants. This will not solve the entire problem. Such an approach requires heavy investments into the grid, which then raises utility rates for decades. There is also already a long backlog in connecting new infrastructure to the power grid, making the day with adequate renewable power production and storage a long way off.

Instead, regulators and policymakers should encourage on-site storage solutions that customers, especially commercial buildings and facilities, can install now on their own. Known as “behind the meter” distributed energy resources, these storage mechanisms are charged when clean grid electricity is cheap and plentiful, then discharged when the sun is not shining, thereby replacing expensive and dirty utility electricity during those hours. This is an immediate, accessible, and effective cure for overburdened grids and the only way to take full advantage of current renewable energy capabilities. Read More...