The California Independent System Operator’s new video, "From Idea to Reality: Battery Storage Comes of Age on the California Grid," tells the story of California’s historic embrace of battery storage to support the grid as we transition to a carbon-free system.

Energy storage is key to helping California and our region meet our climate goals because it helps change when and how we may use renewable energy. Energy storage works by absorbing electricity generated by renewable sources like wind and solar during the day, then allowing batteries to dispatch these resources back to the grid at night, when demand is higher but the sun is set.

Thanks to an abundance of solar power in our region, Southern California generally produces more clean energy than it can use each day. But with energy storage, we can capture that excess solar and store it to help support grid reliability and operational flexibility. In some cases, we can use solar energy to create green hydrogen.

In fact, we plan to start piloting two hydrogen initiatives this year to test the potential of this new longer-duration storage technology. The pilots will take place at the Palomar Energy Center and Borrego Springs Microgrid. These projects and others, like Top Gun and the Kearny Energy Storage facility, will help us achieve our goal to reach net- zero by 2045. 

Learn more about the importance of energy storage and how utilities, regulators and battery manufacturers are working together to make this new technology work for California, and the world. You’ll also have a chance to hear about our commitment to bring 145 MW of energy storage online by the end of this year – directly from our CEO, Caroline Winn.