Energy storage, particularly battery storage, can provide big benefits for the broader grid. It can bank excess power from renewables for when demand spikes, enabling renewable facilities to function more like traditional power plants. And the discharge of the electricity from batteries is nearly instantaneous, providing an attractive degree of flexibility for grid operators who have to match electric demand and supply in real time.
California’s grid operator avoided blackouts during record-setting heat last year thanks in part to the 3,500 megawatts of storage added between 2020 and 2022, the state’s grid operator said. Solar and rapidly growing battery storage has been credited with helping Texas get through punishing summer “heat domes” this year.