Southern CA adding thermal energy storage

August 26, 2013 | By Barbara Vergetis Lundin

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has mandated that utilities throughout the state increase their use of energy storage technologies, spurring thermal energy projects across Southern California.

To achieve the goal of providing 50 MW of energy storage to the grid, SCE is using thermal energy storage at nine commercial and industrial sites to meet peak summer air-conditioning demand, including a chain of diners (24 kW), a high-tech manufacturing plant (30 kW), two wineries (127 kW) and a Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA) project (38 kW). SCPPA also has a separate 50-plus MW deployment in progress.

Energy storage program participants have received more than $627,000 through HVAC Optimization Energy-Efficiency Program rebates sponsored by Southern California Edison. The average investment per customer was $139,965 and the average total rebate per customer was $69,670.

SCPPA member utilities have deployed 53 MW throughout Southern California to permanently reduce California's peak electrical demand by shifting as much as 64 GWh of on-peak electrical consumption to off-peak periods every year, reducing exposure to costly peak power and improving grid reliability.

The SCPPA project has been critical to helping the state meet a key strategic objective that all utilities consider energy-efficiency and demand side management solutions before investing in generation resources to meet demand objectives.

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http://www.fierceenergy.com/story/southern-ca-adding-thermal-energy-storage/2013-08-26