LA To Build World’s Biggest Battery Storage In Place Of NatGas Plant

World’s Largest Storage Battery Will Power Los Angeles; More than 18,000 lithium ion battery packs would replace a gas-fired power plant used to meet peak demand

John Fialka, July 7, 2016 (ClimateWire via Scientific American)

“…[On midsummer late afternoons, engineers turn on what they call “peaker” natural gas-burning power plants to meet spiking demand as people arrive home from work and turn on air conditioners, televisions, and other appliances. In 2021, the “peaker” will be replaced in Los Angeles] by the world’s largest storage battery, capable of holding and delivering over 100 megawatts of power an hour for four hours. The customary afternoon peak will still be there, but the battery will be able to handle it without the need for more fossil fuels. It will have spent the morning charging up with cheap solar power that might have otherwise been wasted…[The battery will be ready for the next day’s morning demand peak by charging overnight with] cheap power, most of it from wind turbines…California’s Public Utilities Commission [mandated storage and the local utility, Southern California Edison Co., invested in it]…” click here for more

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