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LADWP pursues energy storage, but it's no replacement for natural gas in the short-term
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John Cruz, a meter reader for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power opens a water meter in the Hollywood Hills on Friday morning, Aug. 7, 2015.
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When electricity rates went up last month for 1.4 million customers of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers, about $150 million of the rate increase was earmarked for a novel energy supply that officials hope will become more commonplace.
Massive banks of batteries positioned next to power plants could keep the turbines spinning when inconsistent sources of power like solar and wind are not available.
Storing energy in batteries, water reservoirs, even blocks of ice are on the drawing board. But most of the projects won't be in place soon enough to minimize the risk of power outages this summer.
State officials have warned of possible blackouts because of the continued shutdown of the Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field following a four-month leak.
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The facility is an important source of backup fuel for gas-fired power plants on days of peak demand, particularly summer heat waves.
The soonest DWP's first energy storage projects could come on line are next year, DWP officials said.
'These are all important movements towards a world where we can get beyond natural gas, but it will take us some time to get there," said Michael Webster, the utility's director of power system, engineering and technical services.
He made his comments this week to a panel of state senators reviewing the reliability of energy systems this summer as the region suffers an expected shortage of natural gas and potential power outages.
The main place that gas is stored for the L.A. and Orange County region is the Aliso Canyon storage facility near Porter Ranch. It leaked uncontrollable for four months and has been barred from injecting or withdrawing natural gas until some 114 gas wells undergo extensive inspections and state authorities declare the field is safe to resume operations.
LA DWP will spend $150 million from its recently approved rate increase to add about 154 megawatts of battery and other types of energy storage by 2020. That's about enough to power nearly 12,000 homes.
The batteries could be charged when solar and wind power create a surplus and then used at night or when the wind is still.
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The utilitiy is looking at the potential for thermal energy storage, which involves making ice at night to cool buildings during the day, reducing the energy expenditure of air conditioning.
It's also looking to increase what's called pump storage. That means pumping water uphill with surplus power and using it to generate hydroelectric turbines later when needed.
Publicly owned utilities were ordered by the state Legislature in 2010 to target methods and the amount of energy storage capacity they expected to have by 2016 and 2020. Los Angeles DWP, like other municipal power utilities, are not governed by that requirement, but the agency wrote a $150 million plan anyway. It was funded as part of the rate increase that took effect April 15.
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