Investment and development firm LS Power is set to complete the largest battery energy storage project in the world— the 250MW Gateway Energy Storage project in California, US.
The Gateway project, located in the East Otay Mesa community in San Diego County, is due to reach 250MW by the end of the month— it sits at 230MW today.
Construction has begun on the world’s biggest utility-owned lithium-ion energy storage systems by California, US, -based Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Tesla.
Work on the 182.5MW/730MWh system at PG&E's electric substation in Moss Landing, Monterey County will be designed, constructed, and maintained by PG&E and Tesla, and will be owned and operated by the US utility.
The US’ largest battery storage resource to date was connected to the California Independent System Operator’s (ISO) grid in June— with the 62.5MW lithium-ion system supplying more than a quarter of the area’s battery capacity.
The initial phase of LS Power Group’s Gateway Energy Storage Project in San Diego County signals an era of rapid battery growth for ISO through 2023 as the firm aims toward the state’s procurement targets.
Tesla is planning to expand manufacturing capacity at its Freemont, California, facility to develop more ‘effective’ lithium-ion batteries and more efficient manufacturing technology.
Plans given to Freemont government back-up rumours of the US firm’s Roadrunner project that will support manufacturing, R&D operations— including cathode making— and the final step in cell manufacturing.
Lead-acid battery recycler Quemetco has been fined $600,000 and forced to temporarily reduce operations due to emissions violations at its facility in the City of Industry, California, US.
The fine follows inspections and testing conducted by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (South Coast AQMD) between 2017 and 2019.
Power provider Southern California Edison has signed seven contracts totalling 770MW of battery-based energy storage capacity to deliver security of supply to California, US.
The projects will help integrate renewable power into the grid from intermittent wind and solar resources.
Californian residential battery storage start-up NeoVolta said it is set for a “300% increase in manufacturing capacity” as the state embraces investment in renewable energy systems.
NeoVolta, launched last year, said its move to a new 21,150 sq ft production facility in San Diego this summer will allow it to increase production of its lithium iron phosphate home battery units to more than 10,000 annually.
Daimler is investing in the California-based producer of engineered materials, Sila Nanotechnologies, to boost development of “next generation lithium-ion battery materials”.
Daimler said it was making a “significant investment” in Sila Nano to forge a partnership that would speed up the development and commercialisation of lithium battery tech— to benefit future electric cars produced by its Mercedes-Benz subsidiary.
In addition to acquiring a minority equity stake in Sila Nano, Daimler also joins the board of the battery material specialist.
California-based lithium-ion battery manufacturer Zenlabs Energy has been awarded a US$4.8 million contract by the US Advanced Battery Consortium (USABC) to develop “low-cost, fast-charge battery technology” for electric vehicles (EVs).
The contract will fund a 30-month project— which started in March 2019— that aims to develop novel cell designs and production methods to improve the performance of lithium-ion batteries for automotive purposes.
“The low-cost/fast-charge technology development contract award with Zenlabs is part of USABC's broad battery technology research and development programme," said USCAR executive director Steve Zimmer.
A strategy paper from Southern California Gas Company (SCGC) has highlighted the importance of varied methods of energy storage to ensuring the West Coast state meets its “ambitious environmental goals”.
“California already produces more renewable energy than residents and business can use on most days,” meaning that new solutions to energy storage are required to manage fluctuations in supply and demand, the paper said.
But the paper suggests that while batteries will continue to be used to manage short-term demand for energy, they “are not well suited for long-term and seasonal energy storage”.
