San Diego Gas & Electric‘s giant lithium-ion backup battery in Escondido has been named the utility project of the year by a leading trade publication.
The facility is one of the world’s largest lithium-ion battery storage units, rated at 30 megawatts for four hours — enough to supply 20,000 customers.
“Already, the success of the Escondido batteries and installations like them appear to be influencing California utility regulation,” Utility Dive noted in its annual awards.
The publication said battery projects like the one in Escondido make natural gas-powered peak generators less important.
SDG&E has five new local battery storage facilities for a total of 84 megawatts of capacity pending approval by the California Public Utilities Commission.
The utility said that batteries are especially useful in smoothing the power generation from renewable sources like solar and wind.
