Salt River Project and Plus Power LLC have just announced that two of their new grid-charged Tesla Megapack battery storage systems are preparing to come online in Arizona.
As Electrek reported, both the Sierra Estrella Energy Storage and Superstition Energy Storage facilities are set to be operational soon and will add a massive 340 megawatts of capacity, which they say is enough to power 76,000 residential homes for about four hours.
The 250-megawatt Sierra Estrella facility is now SRP's largest grid-tied system and the biggest stand-alone one in Arizona, according to the company website. The nearby Superstition location adds an additional 90 megawatts of storage capacity for SRP's grid.
As one commenter explained: "The benefit we get from storage like this is the ability to instantly absorb renewable energy peaks so we can actually use them instead of just locking out panels/turbines if they're producing too much. It's not intended for backup, it's intended to provide resilience and additional capacity."
Plus Power also owns and operates a Tesla Megapack storage facility in Hawaii. That location recently went online and has the honor of replacing the island's last coal power plant. Arizona has recently leaned into greener practices itself, with four coal power plants set to close by 2032.
Battery storage plays an important role in the development of clean, renewable energy. Wind is an intermittent source, and solar power is collected during the electricity grid's off-peak daytime hours. Being able to harvest and store this energy for later use and to stabilize the grid will allow further growth in the sector.
The Tesla Megapacks used in these new facilities were designed and manufactured in the U.S. and supported by federal investment tax credits courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act, as SRP shared. This helps bolster the company's commitment to "reducing carbon intensity (from 2005 levels) by 82% by 2035" and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.
"Battery storage is an extremely important and growing component of SRP's 2035 Sustainability Goals to reduce our carbon footprint," according to Kelly Barr, SRP's chief strategy, corporate services, and sustainability executive.
Storage infrastructure will be necessary to keep pace with the rapid growth in the renewable energy sector. Wind and solar are forecast to make up 18% of electricity generation in the U.S. in 2024, up from 16% in 2023, according to the Energy Information Administration.
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