San Diego Gas & Electric Co. is proposing 166 MW of energy storage to provide electricity to emergency services during power outages.
The proposal was submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission on Feb. 28. If approved, the projects would support public-sector facilities such as emergency operation centers and fire and police stations when grid-supplied power is interrupted, the Sempra Energy subsidiary said.
The seven energy storage projects would be implemented in phases over the next few years, with all projects to be in operation by 2024, San Diego Gas & Electric said. The projects would result in a revenue requirement of $284.6 million that SDG&E would seek to recover in customer rates.
The proposal is in response to California Assembly Bill 2868, which was signed into law in 2016, requiring SDG&E and the state's two other largest investor-owned utilities to invest in a total of 500 MW of distributed energy storage systems. The PUC on April 27, 2017, approved rules to implement the law by requiring each utility to procure about 166 MW to achieve the law's total requirement.
The PUC in 2013 had already set a target of 1,325 MW of total storage among the three utilities to be acquired in biennial solicitations through 2020. In its 2017 decision to implement the law, the commission declined to increase that target by an additional 500 MW. However, the PUC encouraged each utility to continue to pursue all cost-effective storage opportunities, saying 1,325 MW was a minimum target.
Also in April 2017, SDG&E announced that the PUC approved its proposal to build two energy storage projects in San Diego County and it had signed contracts for five battery storage systems totaling 83.5 MW. Less than a year before, SDG&E selected AES Corp. subsidiary AES Energy Storage LLC to install two battery storage facilities totaling 30 MW.
SDG&E's recently announced emergency services storage proposal also includes an energy storage customer program pilot that would provide $2 million in incentives for nonprofit care facilities to purchase energy storage systems under the California Alternative Rates for Energy, or CARE, program that provides subsidized rates for low-income residential gas and electric customers.
The expanded CARE facilities include transitional housing, short- or long-term care facilities such as hospice and nursing homes, group homes for physically or mentally disabled persons, or other nonprofit group living facilities.
Pending PUC approval, the utility would issue a solicitation to identify a third party to administer the pilot. The company expects to launch the program within one year of the PUC's approval.
