Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has successfully completed a technology demonstration project to explore the performance of battery storage systems participating in California's electricity markets.
The project, funded by California's Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program, began in 2014 and used PG&E's 2 MW Vaca-Dixon and 4 MW Yerba Buena.
— Kevin Dasso, vice president, Electric Asset Management, PG&E
The Vaca-Dixon system is the first battery storage resource in California to participate in the CAISO market.
Key project accomplishments include:
- Developing and deploying a scalable technology platform to automate the response of current and future PG&E battery storage resources to CAISO.
- Quantifying financial performance of battery systems in California energy markets.
- Identifying opportunities and challenges associated with operating dual-use energy storage systems.
In 2017, PG&E will utilize the Yerba Buena battery for another EPIC technology demonstration involving the coordination of 3rd-party distributed energy resources (DERs) -- such as residential and commercial solar -- using smart inverters and battery storage controlled through a distributed energy resource management system (DERMS).
The original PGE press release is available at PG&E Battery Storage Systems are First to Successfully Participate in California Electricity Markets.
