SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Battery storage facilities have played a central role in keeping San Diego's power on during periods of high demand, even as California's grid relies increasingly on renewable energy sources that fluctuate with the weather.
California's grid has a capacity of around 70,000 megawatts. About three-fourths of that comes from renewable sources like solar and wind power, according to California ISO. Because those sources depend on weather conditions, storing renewable energy has become critical.
Battery storage facilities have come online and expanded over the years to meet that need. SDG&E owns 600 megawatts of battery storage and draws on an additional 750 megawatts owned by other companies, just in San Diego County alone. That stored energy kicks in during peak usage hours, reducing the need for customers to cut back on power consumption.
Jayme Ackemann of CAISO said the expansion of battery storage has been a turning point for grid reliability.
"Capturing that solar energy with our battery storage resources, which is not something we were able to do in 2020 has been really vital to helping strengthen the grid and avoid issues during stressed grid conditions."
California has not asked San Diegans to reduce power usage since 2022. Ackemann said there hasn't been a rotating outage since 2020.
When San Diego neighborhoods lost power during recent heat events, it was not because the grid lacked capacity. Outages were caused by individual neighborhoods' equipment failing after record-high evening temperatures and greater overall usage, according to a spokesperson from SDG&E.
Battery storage facilities have been a key factor in keeping air conditioning units and lights running across San Diego neighborhoods during periods of extreme heat and high demand.
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