April 06, 2021
Q: What does the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) do?
CAISO operates the high-voltage transmission system and the energy market for about 80% of California and a small portion of Nevada. We’re the entity that matches the real-time supply of electricity with demand and is responsible for efficiently integrating the next generation of clean energy resources into the grid.
In addition to our fundamental responsibility as a primarily single-state independent system operator, increasingly we’re taking on broader functions across the western United States. Those include monitoring reliability and operating an energy imbalance market that lets us buy and sell energy with the Northwest, the Intermountain West, and the desert Southwest.
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California s energy sector stands to gain a lot from President Joe Biden s $2 trillion infrastructure plan which would set aside billions of dollars for the electric grid as the state navigates its own clean energy goals, experts say.
Biden s American Jobs Plan includes a $100 billion investment in the power grid, including tax credits to incentivize the deployment of at least 20 GW of high-voltage capacity power lines, as well as extending and expanding tax credits for clean energy resources, including energy storage. The plan has been criticized by the Republican leadership in Congress as being too expensive, but clean energy advocates including in California are optimistic that the proposed investments could go a long way in building out transmission and deploying more storage, advancing some of the key building blocks to California s goal to reach 100% zero-carbon electricity by 2045.
California’s electricity grid solution? Plug in really big batteries It will be the biggest test yet of whether batteries are reliable enough to sustain a grid largely powered by renewables 04 April 2021 - 06:00 David R Baker Picture: 123RF/SAIDIN B JUSHO
San Francisco With summer’s heat approaching, California’s plan for avoiding a repeat of last year’s blackouts hinges on a humble saviour: the battery.
Giant versions of the same technology that powers smartphones and cars are being plugged into the state’s electrical grid at breakneck speed, with California set to add more battery capacity this year than all of China, according to BloombergNEF.
Press release content from Globe Newswire. The AP news staff was not involved in its creation.
Ormat Commences Commercial Operation of the 10 MW/ 40 MWh Vallecito Battery Energy Storage .
Ormat Technologies, Inc.April 1, 2021 GMT
RENO, Nev., April 01, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) Ormat Technologies, Inc.1 (NYSE: ORA) today announced the commercial operation of the 10 MW/40 MWh Vallecito Battery Energy Storage System (Vallecito BESS). The Vallecito BESS provides local resource adequacy to Southern California Edison (SCE) under a 20-year energy storage resource adequacy agreement. In addition, the facility will provide ancillary services and energy optimization through participation in merchant markets run by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).
California to Test Whether Big Batteries Can Stop Summer Blackouts
Bloomberg 3 days ago David R Baker
(Bloomberg) With summer’s heat approaching, California’s plan for avoiding a repeat of last year’s blackouts hinges on a humble savior – the battery.
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Giant versions of the same technology that powers smart phones and cars are being plugged into the state’s electrical grid at breakneck speed, with California set to add more battery capacity this year than all of China, according to BloombergNEF.
It will be the biggest test yet of whether batteries are reliable enough to sustain a grid largely powered by renewables. Last year, when the worst heat wave in a generation taxed California’s power system and plunged millions into darkness in the first rolling blackouts since the Enron crisis, many blamed the state’s aggressive clean-energy push and its reliance on solar power. Should a heat wave strike again this summer, it will be