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by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
July 12, 2023

The California Independent System Operator recently reported that more than 5,000 megawatts of battery storage capacity is now online and fully integrated into the electrical grid.

As of July 1, total battery storage on the grid had increased to 5,600 MW. Just three years ago, “we had about 500 MW on the grid and this rapid growth of energy storage in California has significantly improved our ability to manage through challenging grid conditions,” said Elliot Mainzer, the ISO’s president and CEO.

Since the summer of 2020, the ISO has seen a ten-fold increase in storage on the grid. The major driver behind the influx has been a series of storage procurement orders authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission requiring regulated utilities to add storage to their portfolios, CAISO said. These orders also call for significantly more storage in the coming years.

The CPUC’s plans call for a buildout of more than 10,000 MW in aggregate storage capacity on the grid by 2026.

In coming years, the ISO is expecting to see the emergence of new storage technologies as well as longer-duration storage resources that will be able to provide additional value to the grid.