(Credit: Pixabay)Several California towns will soon benefit from new lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery energy storage systems. California Choice Energy Authority (CalChoice), a hybrid of five operational community choice aggregations (CCAs) in the cities of Lancaster, Pico Rivera, Rancho Mirage, San Jacinto, and the Town of Apple Valley, California will be able to take advantage of this program. Under the new contract, esVolta will develop, build, and operate the Black Walnut Energy Storage project, a 15 MW/60 MWh facility to be built in Santa Paula, California. The project is slated to be in service by June 2022.
The Black Walnut project was selected by CalChoice to provide incremental resource adequacy to help ensure sufficient capacity to meet anticipated load growth for each member CCA. The project will also provide an array of energy and ancillary services to the electric grid, facilitating California’s transition to a cleaner and more resilient electric system.
“Both the current pandemic and the planned power outages over the last several months demonstrate the need to be prepared for any disaster that may arise,” said R. Rex Parris, Chair of Cal Choice and Mayor of the City of Lancaster. “In today’s energy-intensive climate, grid resiliency is absolutely vital to these preparations.”
Energy storage programs have been implemented in many cities and towns across the US recently. In fact, a February report stated that the total energy storage market is expected to grow to $546 billion in annual revenue by 2035.
The report, “Global Energy Storage Market 2019,” estimates that the three main drivers of energy storage — mobility applications, electronic devices, and stationary storage — will reach an annual combined deployment level of 3,046 GWh over the next 15 years, up from the current 164 GWh, with mobility applications making up the lion’s share of the growth.
