Tuesday, April 18, 2017
GE, Southern California Edison Deploy First Battery, Gas Turbine Hybrid
GE and Southern California Edison (SCE) said this morning that the two companies have deployed the world's first battery-gas turbine hybrid system in Norwalk, as a part of Southern California Edison's renewable energy efforts. According to the two, the new system includes a 10MW/ 4.3 MWh of battery energy storage, to complement a GE gas turbine with 50MW of cpacity. The two said the use of battery technology at the plant will provide enhanced reliability, reduce environmental impact, and reduce cost for its operations, in order to balance variable energy supply and demand. In particular, the two said the system helps with managing intermittent renewable resources on the grid. The use of battery storage allows electric grid operators to not have to maintain power generation at the plant in reserve--power which is generally not needed or used, but must be available to accomodate sudden surges in demand or loss of renewable power (solar, wind) due to environmental conditions.