More mega-battery sites heading to Coachella Valley as California boosts power grid

A battery storage facility under construction near Palm Springs International Airport is just one part of a concerted effort by California to increase energy flexibility throughout the state.

The state has recently instituted regulatory reforms to make it easier to build battery sites that can store energy produced elsewhere and feed it into the power grid when needed. That has helped institute a surge in development across the Coachella Valley and beyond. The facility near the Palm Springs airport will eventually house 13 10-foot-tall batteries, each about the size of a shipping container, which will be capable of storing a combined 20 megawatts of energy.

Two other sites exist within Palm Springs and the city expects more to be approved in the future. Meanwhile, the Imperial Irrigation District, which provides power services for much of the eastern Coachella Valley and all of Imperial County, has four battery storage systems with 26 more in development.

A 2021 state report indicated California will need approximately 50 gigawatts of battery storage by 2045. That's a far cry from the 10,000 megawatts reached earlier this year.

For reference, a gigawatt is 1,000 megawatts, and one megawatt provides roughly enough energy to power 750 homes, according to the California Independent System Operator, or CAISO, which manages the flow of energy throughout the state and maintains a wholesale energy market.

"Energy storage has the potential to provide significant flexibility in balancing the grid by allowing electricity to be consumed at a time after it was generated," Vonette Fontaine, a spokesperson for CAISO, said in an email to The Desert Sun. "This, in turn, allows to further the integration of renewable energy resources as the electricity they generate during periods of low demand (the middle of the day) can be stored to be used during periods of higher demand (the evening)."

Southern California Edison, which provides power for the western Coachella Valley a nd much of the rest of Southern California, could not provide an estimate of the number of battery storage facilities already in existence or in development in its service area.

"They are especially useful when there are periods of high demand, such as very hot weather all at once," SCE Spokesperson Jeff Monford said about battery storage facilities. "The batteries are discharged into the grid to keep the power going at the right level."

By charging during downtimes and releasing their energy during peak hours, battery storage facilities are meant to increase the reliability of the electrical grid, especially as the state transitions to more green energy production methods, like solar power.

In the late afternoon, energy demand in California is at its highest. That can cause a problem as the afternoon is the time when power from solar energy declines and energy from wind has yet to pick up. As the state transitions more of its power output to renewable energy sources, leaders intend battery storage facilities to make up for the difference in production and demand in the peak hours

While battery storage sites do not necessarily need to be charged by renewable sources, the state considers the sites to be clean energy sources.

"While batteries may not always be charged by renewables, they are typically charged during the midday hours when there is excess renewable generation," said Stacey Shepard, a spokesperson for the California Energy Commission. "As the proportion of renewable energy generation grows, so will the proportion of renewables charging energy storage."

Still, the state's battery storage expansion plans come with some potential drawbacks. According to CAISO, batteries can only supply power for about four hours, meaning their use has to be specifically targeted.

"It’s important to optimize the use of battery resources for when they’re needed most, especially during evening peak demand," CAISO said in a 2024 report. "We continue to refine our market rules to ensure that batteries are dispatched in line with the reliability needs of the grid.”

Sam Morgen covers the city of Palm Springs for The Desert Sun. Reach him at smorgen@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: More mega-battery sites heading to Coachella Valley as California boosts power grid