How batteries are already changing the grid

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Renewable energy, when it comes to solar and wind power, has always had a caveat: it can only run when the wind blows or the sun shines. The idea of a battery was floated around to make renewables available 24/7. For years, it existed as an expensive, little-used technology. And then in 2021, it took off.

In California, there is now enough grid-scale battery storage to power millions of homes, at least for a few hours, and it's growing fast. How did that happen, and what does the newfound success mean for the grid?

This week, we dig into three stories about grid-scale battery storage. Today, we go on-the-ground to California, where batteries first took off in the U.S.

Related episodes:
Rooftop solar's dark side (Apple / Spotify)
How EV batteries tore apart Michigan (Update) (Apple / Spotify)
How China became solar royalty (Apple / Spotify)
Wind boom, wind bust (Two windicators) (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	NPR.
0:11.2	In 2008, Nancy Skinner was elected to the California state legislature.
0:16.2	So technically, my term began in 2009.
0:19.6	Nancy has witnessed the state's vision for clean energy firsthand.
0:24.1	Soon after she was elected, a bill was being considered to get more of their electricity
0:28.1	than ever from renewables.
0:30.8	But there was a problem.
0:32.3	When the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow, there's no power.
0:36.1	Several people approach Nancy to raise this issue.
0:38.3	We're going to have to figure out how to store it.
0:41.5	And one way to store energy, a battery.
0:44.5	Extra solar and wind electrons that aren't needed on the grid could flow into a battery.
0:50.5	The problem was, though, grid scale storage wasn't really a thing.
0:55.4	Nonetheless, Nancy was optimistic that eventually it would happen if you created a market signal.
1:00.3	So she introduced the bill requiring utilities to purchase a certain percentage of battery storage when they bought electricity.
1:06.7	Nancy remembers pushback.
1:08.2	That this was just pie in the sky.
1:10.1	This is not real.
1:11.7	Like another California pipe dream.
1:14.2	Still, in 2010, the bill passed.
1:16.6	Although nothing really happened.
1:18.5	Gridscale batteries remained a pie in the sky concept for years.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.