PG&E Commissions its 182.5-Megawatt Moss Landing Elkhorn Battery Powered by Tesla Megapacks

Photo: EKMMetering/YouTube

PG&E commissions its 182.5-Megawatt Moss Landing Elkhorn Battery, powered by Tesla Megapacks. Batteries not only help integrate renewable energy sources but also increase the overall reliability of California's ever-changing power supply.

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced the commissioning of its 182.5 megawatt (MW) Tesla Megapack Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), known as the Elkhorn Battery on April 18. BESS is located at its Moss Landing electric substation in Monterey County. On April 7, 2022, final testing was carried out, after which Elkhorn Battery was fully turned on and certified for participation in the electricity market by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).

Tesla Megapacks were chosen as the energy storage solution. Not only do they help integrate renewable energy sources, but they also increase the overall reliability of California's ever-changing power supply. The batteries are charged by the sun when energy demand is low or when solar power generation is high, and then provide additional power to the grid when demand rises.

“We are ushering in a new era of electric system reliability and delivering a vision into the future for our customers with the commissioning of the Tesla Megapack system in Moss Landing. We are committed to safely delivering reliable and clean energy in a way that achieves the greatest value for our customers, but we can’t go it alone into this clean energy future. Projects like this require innovative partners, such as Tesla, and PG&E will continue to seek out and work with the best and brightest to provide breakthrough clean energy solutions for our customers,” said PG&E Corporation Chief Executive Officer Patti Poppe.

BESS was approved for construction by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in November 2018. In February 2020, it received approval from the Monterey County Planning commission. After that, construction began in July 2020. The BESS Elkhorn Battery was designed, built, and maintained by PG&E and Tesla, and is owned and operated by PG&E.

Elkhorn Battery includes 256 Tesla Megapack battery packs mounted on 33 concrete slabs. Transformers and switchgears were also installed along with the Megapacks to connect energy stored in the batteries with the 115 kilovolt (kv) electric transmission system. BESS has the capacity to store and dispatch up to 730-megawatt hours (MWh) of energy to the electrical grid at a maximum rate of 182.5 MW for up to four hours during periods of high demand. Elkhorn Battery is one of the largest utility-owned lithium-ion battery energy storage systems in the world.

© 2022, Eva Fox | Tesmanian. All rights reserved.

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