How batteries are already changing the grid

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 13 January 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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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.

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Transcript

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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.
	...

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