Oct 27 2010
Southern California Edison (SCE) declared that it has made a final agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE) for a grant amounting to $25 million for the development of a large-scale energy storage demonstration by using lithium-ion batteries.
The DOE fund is a part of the 32 stimulus grants given out last year to exhibit the integrated system and advanced smart grid technologies covered by the American Recovery and Reinforcement Act. The funds will be utilized by SCE to integrate wind power generated by Tehachapi, South California, into the electric grid to fulfill the State’s renewable energy targets. The DOE grant along with a one million grant from California Energy Commission and $29.9 million from SCE and their partners totals up to $54.9 million.
Jim Kelly, Senior Vice President, Transmission and Distribution, SCE, commented that the company was happy to get such a strong financial backing to find out methods to make wind generated energy more efficient for electricity consumers. He states that SCE has always been a leading light offering its support towards generating electricity from renewables. He looked forward to disclosing the project’s significant data to energy stakeholders and putting them to use to advance the nascent field of grid-scale energy storage systems.
The Tehachapi wind energy storage project is anticipated to make energy storage affordable and cost-effective, while stimulating job growth in the energy sector. The project will be at Tehachapi’s SCE substation due to the challenges faced while integrating the sporadic wind generation in this location. The battery system would be fitted in the beginning of 2012 and testing conducted by the end of 2014. The results would be offered to the world by 2015.
SCE has collaborated with California Independent System Operator Corporation and the A123 System, a U.S. Battery manufacturer, on this project. Reporting services, measurement and Engineering support, would be given by Pomona’s California State Polytechnic University and Quanta Technology.