EDF Renewable Energy announced they were awarded a contract to provide Pacific Gas and Electric Company with 40 megawatt hours (MWh) of battery storage capacity. Under the contract, EDF RE will build, own and operate a portfolio of behind-the-meter (BTM) battery storage projects for commercial and industrial customers within the PG&E service territory.
The contract will allow EDF RE to assist selected PG&E customers to lower their utility bills by reducing demand charges, maximizing consumption during off-peak hours, and collecting revenue from wholesale market participation. Each project will optimize the host customer’s energy usage and operating costs by utilizing EDF’s proprietary PEGASE Energy Management System (EMS) to strategically operate the batteries.
Martin Wyspianski, PG&E Senior Director for Energy Portfolio Procurement and Policy, is pleased with the progress PG&E has made toward meeting California’s renewable energy and storage goals. He remarked, “As our clean energy portfolio grows, so does the importance of storage technology. These contracts and the storage capacity they represent will help us better integrate our growing renewable generation sources, and bring increased reliability to the grid. They are an important milestone in our progress toward a clean energy future.”
Raphael Declercq, Vice President of Portfolio Strategy at EDF RE commented, “We are thrilled to be the sole awardee in the behind-the-meter category. This contract will enable EDF RE to demonstrate its capabilities in the California storage market. The depth of resources and experience within the EDF Group positions us well to meet our customer’s expectations. Worldwide, EDF has installed 824 MWh of battery storage; this experience will benefit both PG&E and the host customers we have started to sign up.”
As utilities across North America consider how to meet future electricity demands by providing highly reliable energy at the lowest cost to the ratepayer, distributed generation and storage solutions are becoming an economical and attractive approach. Battery storage, in particular, is playing a progressively important role for California as investor-owned utilities work to achieve the state’s ambitious goal to procure 1,325 MW of storage by 2020.
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