NextEra among companies chosen by PG&E to build 75 MW of energy storage

PG&E Corp. is proposing to sign its first contracts with five companies including NextEra Energy Inc. and Hecate Energy to develop energy storage in California. The owner of utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is asking the California Public Utilities Commission for approval to sign agreements for 75 MW of storage with companies that also include Amber Kinetics, Convergent and Western Grid, the San Francisco-based company said in a statement late Wednesday.

Batteries have been seen by California’s policy makers as key to adding more intermittent solar and wind power resources and to shrinking global-warming emissions. The contracts would help PG&E fulfill a state requirement that investor-owned utilities buy 1,325 MW of storage by 2020, the company said. PG&E is responsible for 580 MW of that target.

“Storage is expected to play an increasingly important role for California utilities as they work to achieve the states ambitious clean energy goals,” PG&E said in its statement. The battery projects will start coming online in May 2017, PG&E said. Amber Kinetics would use flywheel technology; Hecate Energy and NextEra would build lithium ion batteries; and Convergent and Western Grid would make zinc-air batteries.

©2015 Bloomberg News

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