Recently, members of the Clean Power Alliance (CPA) team visited the nearly completed 100 MW, 400-megawatt hour (MWh) Luna Storage standalone battery storage facility in Lancaster, California. This is CPA’s third standalone storage project, in addition to the Johanna ESS Energy Storage Facility in Santa Ana and the Edwards Sanborn Storage II Facility in Kern County, and will allow CPA to cost-effectively integrate renewable energy resources into the grid 24 hours a day.
Battery storage systems are a key component of CPA’s renewable energy strategy and are a key offering to Los Angeles County and Ventura County customers, as they enable the power grid to match natural changes in the supply and demand of electricity.
Because energy market prices are at their highest point in the evening when usage rates are high and solar generation is reduced due to the lack of sunlight, fossil fuel generation is often used to meet peak demand, increasing customers costs while simultaneously increasing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental damage.
Energy storage projects like Luna Storage allow CPA to capture excess energy throughout the course of the day when renewable sources are plentiful and prices are low, and to deploy that energy to customers over the course of the evening when prices and usage are higher.
According to Matt Dugan, the BESS Sr. Project Manager, this project represents a monumental advancement in energy battery storage systems. “As the Senior Project Manager for AES, I’ve been fortunate enough to help lead our first two Battery Energy Storage System Projects. Just a few years ago, 100 MW facilities didn’t exist and technology limits made them almost impossible. Now with huge battery storage chemistry advancements, Luna marks our 3rd 100 MW project. This now allows for around-the-clock clean energy products to be delivered to the grid.”
The $100 million project, constructed with union labor in Lancaster at the northern edge of Los Angeles County, is a little over an hour’s drive from downtown Los Angeles. This allows CPA to advance renewable energy storage options while investing locally and creating local jobs.
AES Clean Energy will own and operate the Luna Storage facility on behalf of CPA with the site expected to become fully operational during the summer of 2022.
Founded in 2017, Clean Power Alliance is the locally operated electricity provider for 30 cities across Los Angeles County and Ventura County, as well as the unincorporated areas of both counties. CPA is the fifth largest electricity provider in California and the single largest provider of 100% renewable energy to customers in the nation, serving approximately three million customers via one million customer accounts, providing clean renewable energy at competitive rates.
