AltaGas has commissioned 20MW energy storage facility at its existing Pomona generation facility in the East Los Angeles Basin of Southern California.
Said to be the largest of its kind in operation in North America, the lithium-ion battery system was built as part of 10-year energy storage resource adequacy purchase agreement (ESA) signed with Southern California Edison (SCE) in 2016.
As part of the ESA, AltaGas agreed to built energy storage at its existing Pomona facility and provide 20MW of resource adequacy capacity to SCE for four hours. In addition to receiving fixed monthly resource adequacy payments, AltaGas will retain the rights to earn additional revenue from the energy generated from the batteries.
The battery storage facility is designed to store 20MW of electricity in 12,240 lithium-ion batteries in 1,020 racks.
It can deliver 80MWh of electricity during peak periods of energy demand to meet the electricity needs of approximately 15,000 homes over four hours per day.
AltaGas president and CEO David Harris said: "We are pleased to advance our California power strategy by bringing 20MW 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."
AltaGas earlier selected energy storage software provider Greensmith Energy Management Systems to supply software control platform (GEMS) as well as lithium-ion batteries and power conversion technology (PCS) for the battery facility.
ARB served as the general contractor for the project with support from the California Building Trades.
The project also involved firms including Samsung SDI, Parker Hannifin, and Power Engineers.
Image: The AltaGas’ 20MW battery storage facility in Southern California, US. Photo: courtesy of Larry Lalonde, AltaGas/Marketwire.