California heat, poor planning led to August power outages, report finds
KABC
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KABC) Energy regulators on Wednesday blamed blackouts last summer that affected hundreds of thousands of Californians on poor planning, electrical market problems and an extreme heat wave that blanketed the West.
The 131-page report covered events of Aug. 14 and Aug. 15 when the state s power grid ordered utilities to cut electricity to customers on a rotating basis for around an hour at a time. More than 800,000 homes and businesses were affected over the two days. It was the first such order since 2001.
Gov. Gavin Newsom demanded an investigation. An analysis was prepared by the California Public Utilities Commission, the state Energy Commission and the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state s power grid.
A battery storage demonstration project already providing a carbon-free source of electricity to California’s grid is about to be tested to see how well it can work on microgrids.
Located on a bluff at a San Diego Gas & Electric substation in Bonita, the energy storage project uses vanadium redox flow battery technology that stores electricity when the grid has excess supply and then discharges the energy when the power system needs it.
For the record:
9:27 AM, Jan. 28, 2021This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Jonathan Woldemariam’s last name.
In 2019, the pilot project became the first battery of its kind to be connected to the state’s grid via the California Independent System Operator, which manages the electric system for about 80 percent of the state. The flow batteries in Bonita provide 2 megawatts and 8 megawatt-hours of energy to California’s grid enough to power about 1,000 homes for up to four hours.
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California regulators are on the lookout for cleaner alternatives to replace the widespread use of back-up diesel generation particularly among data centers in Silicon Valley and other areas of the state and some industry players think hydrogen could be the answer.
Hydrogen s ability to provide long periods of storage capability critical to a state that has experienced reliability problems and an industry that relies on electricity to keep its servers running could make it an effective option for displacing the current practice of setting up large diesel generators, stakeholders said last week at a workshop hosted by the California Energy Commission.
[co-author: Shawn Whites]
On January 19, 2021, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) directed the nation’s six Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators (RTOs/ISOs) to submit reports on the integration of “hybrid” generation plus energy storage resources in their markets.
1 FERC’s order asks RTOs/ISOs to provide input into their current practices and “any ongoing efforts to develop reforms” within four issue categories: (i) terminology (i.e., what constitutes a “hybrid resource”); (ii) interconnection (processes and requirements); (iii) market participation (including in wholesale energy, ancillary services and capacity markets); and (iv) capacity valuation.
2 RTO/ISO reports are due July 19, 2021, and interested parties may submit comments on the reports by August 18, 2021.
Groundbreaking Flow Battery Project Helping To Advance Clean Energy Microgrids
Project is the result of an international public-private partnership
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SAN DIEGO, Jan. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ Two years after becoming the first battery of its kind to be connected to the California grid to help support reliability and maximize the use of clean energy, the vanadium redox flow (VRF) battery based at a San Diego Gas & Electric substation is again breaking new ground. This time, the emerging battery technology is being tested as a means to help achieve zero-emission microgrids – a tool to keep communities and critical facilities powered with clean energy during adverse weather conditions and Public Safety Power Shutoffs.