AltaGas opens North America’s largest battery storage facility
AltaGas battery storage facility Photo Credit: Larry Lalonde, AltaGas
80MWh from battery storage enough power to feed electricity needs of 5,000 homes over the 4-hour period
AltaGas Ltd. celebrated the grand opening of its Pomona Energy Storage Facility at the site of its existing Pomona generation facility in the East Los Angeles Basin of Southern California, according to a press release.
At 20 megawatts (MW) of electricity storage capacity, it is currently the largest battery storage facility in operation in North America.
In addition to AltaGas constructing the facility on-time and on-budget, the company completed construction of the lithium-ion battery system in less than four months, which ranks as one of the fastest deployments of battery storage capacity on this scale in the industry to date.
“We are pleased to advance our California power strategy by bringing 20 MW of battery storage online within a precedent setting four months. Providing energy from electricity stored in lithium-ion batteries provides clean reliable energy that complements California’s renewable energy portfolio while adding to the versatility of our asset base which is well situated for pursuing other energy storage developments,” said David Harris, CEO of AltaGas.
In August 2016, AltaGas’ subsidiary, AltaGas Pomona Energy Storage Inc., signed a 10-year Energy Storage Resource Adequacy Purchase Agreement with Southern California Edison for 20 MW of energy storage at AltaGas’ existing Pomona facility.
Under the terms of the ESA, AltaGas will provide SCE with 20 MW of resource adequacy capacity for a continuous four hour period, which represents the equivalent of 80 MWh of energy discharging capacity.
AltaGas will receive fixed monthly resource adequacy payments under the ESA and will retain the rights to earn additional revenue from the energy and ancillary services provided by the lithium-ion batteries. Commercial operations of the Facility under the terms of the ESA began on Dec. 31, 2016.
“Offsetting periods of peak power with 80 MWh from battery storage is enough power to feed the electricity needs of approximately 15,000 homes over the four-hour period,” said Harris.
The Facility features industry leaders in the energy storage industry including Samsung SDI, Parker Hannifin, Power Engineers and Greensmith Energy Management Systems.
ARB was the General Contractor with support from the California Building Trades.
AltaGas’ other assets in California include six natural gas-fired power generating facilities, as well as development projects.
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