It might come as a surprise to you that batteries attached to the grid today do not reduce carbon emissions -- in fact, they usually do the opposite! Jacob Mansfield & Emma Konet of the startup Tierra Climate are trying to change that by compensating battery operators for emission reductions. I discuss it with them.
David, This behavior is atypical of grid-scale battery storage, and this happens because battery storage projects in Texas mainly participate in Grid Reserves or Ancillary Services. Almost none of the Texas batteries perform renewable energy shifting, which has a high net emissions reduction impact.
We own and operate over 3,300 MW of batteries in US (~30% of all US grid scale storage), with only 30 MW in Texas. I would love to talk to you about the emissions footprint of non-Texas battery storage projects and present an alternate view.
But with the solar and wind growth curves in California and even Texas, don't we expect curtailment pretty quickly? And if so then that would be the most economical time to recharge, right? It just seems like even without offset type mechanisms that storage creates a market for that curtailed energy and thus shifts those times from losses for the producers to just lower margin sales.
I just say all that because the complexity and unclear impact of these markets (outside of RECs) so far. I get nervous about building more layers onto an already complex area that we need to build quickly.
RE: Distribution Grid Solar +Storage, from Canary Media:
“ (There’s a) new proposed payment structure for community solar called the Net Value Billing Tariff (NVBT), which the coalition says is crucial to revamping California’s moribund community solar market and would make community solar in the state both economical and effective. A structure for community solar payments was ordered up by AB 2316, a state law passed last year. Now, as the state comes up on a September 26, 2023 deadline to apply for its share of $7 billion in federal community solar grants, the coalition is pressing the CPUC to lock in the NVBT program — and not allow it to be derailed by arguments from utilities Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.”
David, This behavior is atypical of grid-scale battery storage, and this happens because battery storage projects in Texas mainly participate in Grid Reserves or Ancillary Services. Almost none of the Texas batteries perform renewable energy shifting, which has a high net emissions reduction impact.
We own and operate over 3,300 MW of batteries in US (~30% of all US grid scale storage), with only 30 MW in Texas. I would love to talk to you about the emissions footprint of non-Texas battery storage projects and present an alternate view.
But with the solar and wind growth curves in California and even Texas, don't we expect curtailment pretty quickly? And if so then that would be the most economical time to recharge, right? It just seems like even without offset type mechanisms that storage creates a market for that curtailed energy and thus shifts those times from losses for the producers to just lower margin sales.
I just say all that because the complexity and unclear impact of these markets (outside of RECs) so far. I get nervous about building more layers onto an already complex area that we need to build quickly.
RE: Distribution Grid Solar +Storage, from Canary Media:
“ (There’s a) new proposed payment structure for community solar called the Net Value Billing Tariff (NVBT), which the coalition says is crucial to revamping California’s moribund community solar market and would make community solar in the state both economical and effective. A structure for community solar payments was ordered up by AB 2316, a state law passed last year. Now, as the state comes up on a September 26, 2023 deadline to apply for its share of $7 billion in federal community solar grants, the coalition is pressing the CPUC to lock in the NVBT program — and not allow it to be derailed by arguments from utilities Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison.”
https://www.cpuc.ca.gov/-/media/cpuc-website/divisions/energy-division/documents/net-energy-metering-nem/nemrevisit/net-billing-tariff-fact-sheet.pdf