Nevada and California have announced moves to expand battery energy storage facilities across the two states.
In Nevada, utility NV Energy is asking regulators to back plans to build six solar energy plants with three related BESS facilities with a combined storage capacity of 100 megawatts.
A spokesperson for the utility said the proposed BESS projects did not specify technology requirements, but it was “assumed” all three would use lithium-ion batteries.
NV Energy CEO Paul Caudill said the move was part of the “largest such investment in the state’s history” in renewable energy expansion.
Caudill said: “We calculate that the direct investment in Nevada’s economy, which includes the cost of construction, will be greater than $2 billion.”
In California, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) said five new lithium-ion energy storage projects totalling 83.5MW— and one demand response programme equalling 4.5MW— have just been approved by the California Public Utilities Commission.
The 83.5 MW of energy storage will help improve grid reliability and integrate more renewables, creating a cleaner, healthier, and more sustainable future.
SDG&E said by 2030 it expects to develop or interconnect more than 330MW of battery storage.
BBB reported earlier this year that the US Department of Energy had announced a $30 million shot in the arm for energy storage research as part of a new Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy programme.