On November 5, 2014, Southern California Edison (“SCE”) announced that it entered into contracts for 2,221 MW of power to satisfy its customers’ demand, including contracts for 262 MW of long-term storage capacity. The energy storage agreements were in response to the California Public Utilities Commission’s (“CPUC”) rulemaking that set energy storage targets for investor-owned utilities in the State of California.
The CPUC’s rulemaking established a target of 50 MW of transmission-connected energy storage for SCE beginning in 2014 and increasing every two years so that by 2020, SCE’s total transmission-connected energy storage target will be 310 MW. However, SCE’s Local Capacity Requirements Request for Offers resulted in over five times the minimum requirement for SCE’s 2014 energy storage requirement. As the contracts seek to maintain reliability with the retirement of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, the CPUC must approve all contracts.
The energy storage agreements mark the first time SCE has contracted for energy storage projects through competitive bidding. The winners of the energy storage contracts were AES Energy Storage for 100 MW of In-Front-of-Meter Battery Energy Storage, Stem for 85 MW of Behind-the-Meter Battery Energy Storage, Advanced Microgrid Solutions for 50 MW of Behind-the-Meter Battery Energy Storage, and Ice Energy Holdings, Inc. for 25.6 MW of Behind-the-Meter Thermal Energy Storage.
A copy of SCE’s Energy Procurement Plan is available here. A copy of the CPUC’s energy storage rulemaking is available here. A list of the complete contract winners is available here.