PG&E proposes Nipomo battery storage project to help replace Diablo Canyon energy
PG&E wants to build a series of battery energy storage projects across the state to help improve energy resiliency in the wake of losing California’s only remaining nuclear power plant — and one of those projects could be right here in San Luis Obispo County.
According to a news release Monday, PG&E is proposing to build nine battery storage projects, totaling approximately 1,600 megawatts, in the coming years.
One of those would be in Nipomo: the Caballero Energy Storage project would feature a 99.7-megawatt, stand-alone, transmission-connected battery energy storage facility that, if approved, could be online by June 2024, according to the release. It would use lithium-ion battery energy storage technology.
The Nipomo plant could potentially be one of two battery storage facilities in SLO County.
Currently, Vistra Corp. is working on plans for a 600-megawatt facility on the mothballed Morro Bay Power Plant property. That plant, at about six times the size of the Nipomo project, would be the largest facility of its kind in the world.
PG&E proposes 9 new battery storage plants across California
The push for energy storage plants has grown in recent years in California as the state moves away from non-renewable energy sources and pursues solar and wind.
Battery facilities are particularly useful in that switch because they can be charged when energy demand and prices are lower — like, when solar generation is higher — and then the power is sent to the grid when demand and prices increase.
PG&E says its proposed large-scale battery systems will help provide new energy sources and stability to the California Independent System Operator-controlled grid.
“As we work year-round to strengthen our electric system, we are also planning, engineering and building the grid for a future that harnesses the power of solar plus storage on an unprecedented scale,” PG&E Senior Vice President of Electric Engineering Joe Bentley said in the release. “We are committed to safely delivering reliable and clean energy in a way that achieves the greatest value for our customers.”
The other projects would be located across the state, including facilities in Mojave, Moss Landing and Vacaville, according to the release.
PG&E says the nine proposed projects are the result of a competitive request for offers process that the utility company launched to procure energy resources after the CPUC ordered all load-serving entities in California to procure 11.5 gigawatts of new electricity resources.
The energy would have to come online between 2023 and 2026 to support California’s greenhouse gas reduction policy, and to replace energy lost in the retirements of Southern California natural gas plants and PG&E’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, according to the release.
If approved by the California Public Utilities Commission, the nine projects would bring PG&E’s total battery energy storage system capacity to more than 3,330 megawatts by 2024.
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