ELECTRICITY SUPPLIER LEADING THE CHARGE FOR ENERGY STORAGE TECHNOLOGY

NextEra Energy, which is a major partner of North American Energy Advisory is currently the world’s biggest producer of wind and solar power. They have recently announced a plan to invest $100 million in energy storage which will be designed to back up their renewable energy plants.

This plan will help manage the fluctuations that occur with lulls in wind gusts for wind power and cloudy days for solar. NextEra has been reluctant in diving into the energy storage realm due to its great expense.

However, since Tesla’s announcement of the “Powerwall” commercial energy storage system earlier this year, (as previously discussed here), as well as many other organizations jumping on the accumulator (energy storage apparatus) bandwagon, there is a lot of potential for renewable energy to become more affordable, as well as reliable.

NextEra plans on starting their storage systems out west, as well as in the northeast, where storage capacity has become a major issue the past couple of winters. This could help ease the pressure New England utilities have faced without many solid options for the mounting capacity issues.

With utility power companies like Southern California Edison showing more and more interest in battery storage being a major part of their procurement plans, NextEra’s initiative will more than likely be just the beginning of a major shift in resources exhibited by major energy supply companies.

Although energy storage is currently only in its infancy, the direction this topic is progressing towards, points to it being a major part of the future of energy in the U.S.

Matthew Helland
SVP NAEA

Sources:
http://www.governorswindenergycoalition.org
http://www.bloomberg.com