AES begins work on large battery storage system to provide reliable energy in Southern Calif.
An AES subsidiary broke ground on a new 400 megawatt-hour (MWh) energy storage system at Alamitos Energy Center (AEC) in Long Beach, Calif., last month, in what is expected to become one of the largest battery storage systems in the United States.
The high-tech battery energy storage system from The AES Corporation’s AES Alamitos subsidiary will be supplied by Fluence, a Siemens and AES company that provides utility-scale energy storage and technology services. In essence, it represents the large-scale replacement and modernization of the existing Alamitos Generating Station, an aging natural gas power plant. When complete, the facility will provide reliable energy to customers of Southern California Edison (SCE) through times of peak demand. It will also support grid modernization efforts and, the company says, will help increase the integration of renewable energy into the grid, while lowering costs and greenhouse gas emissions.
“In 2014, AES was awarded 20-year contracts for 1,284 MW of combined cycle, gas-fired generation and 100 MW of battery-based energy storage,” Amy Ackerman, AES manager of Investor Relations and External Communications, told Daily Energy Insider. “AES is building these projects on the sites of its existing Huntington Beach and Alamitos gas-fired facilities and is pleased to provide innovative energy solutions designed to meet California’s long-term electricity needs and to help the state achieve its environmental goals.”
This will benefit the larger region, according to John Zahurancik, chief operating officer at Fluence. In an interview, he noted the Western Los Angeles basin will soon retire many of its thermal power generating stations, which date back to the 1960s.
“They have run the course of their useful lives and do not meet modern standards for efficiency and stewardship,” Zahurancik said. “In order to ensure adequate power capacity to keep the lights on, Southern California Edison selected the best and most cost-effective options for modernizing the power infrastructure – the new combined cycle gas plant and battery energy storage system. The battery energy storage system, in particular, represents the most modern element of the improvements, providing fast, flexible peak power generation with no emissions and no water usage.”
By using the storage facility at Alamitos, the project can utilize existing grid infrastructure, help the state meet a 100 percent clean energy target by 2045 and, more specifically, meet the terms of a power purchase agreement with SCE, which requires storage to be online by 2021.
The system utilizes Fluence’s Advancion 5 batteries and control systems, a combination of battery and power conversion hardware with embedded intelligence, power system controls and safety features. According to Zahurancik, it was designed to allow battery storage to do the sort of work power plants have traditionally been relied on for – things like peak power, flexible grid support and frequency control, meaning new potential for reliability and adaptability over time as the grid moves increasingly away from gas peakers.
“We only use [peakers] 5 percent of the time, but unfortunately we have to pay for them 100 percent of the time,” Zahurancik said at the groundbreaking in June. “Energy storage does that peak job, but you can also use it every day for moment-to-moment balancing; or when you have too much energy coming from wind and solar, you can absorb that for another time in the day.”
The partners expect the AES Alamitos project, when coupled with the AES AEC combined-cycle gas turbine, to result in more than $132 million in local purchases and a payroll of more than $315 million, with a completion date set for late 2020. For the local economy, they also anticipate the project to provide between $12.3 million and $14.6 million annually.
The size of the AES Alamitos storage system will exceed the two largest operating utility-scale battery storage sites in the United States. As of March 2019, the Golden Valley Electric Association’s battery energy storage system in Alaska and the Vista Energy storage system in California provide 40 MW of power capacity each, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“Energy storage is our most flexible resource,” Colin Cushnie, vice president of Power Supply for SCE, said in a written statement. “It can charge or discharge virtually instantaneously and helps us to maximize our use of renewable energy on the grid. Projects such as this signal a new direction for how we can meet our customers’ need for reliable energy with a clean mix of resources.”
For AES, the effort also fits into larger, company-wide initiatives. While the state is pursuing its own efforts at greener living, AES intends to reduce its carbon intensity from 2016 levels by 50 percent by 2022 and by 70 percent by 2030, according to Ackerman. The company also intends to expand and accelerate access to new forms of power, while utilizing energy storage, renewables, natural gas and energy efficiency efforts.
