California investor-owned utility San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has released a decarbonization roadmap study. The report claims that California needs to quadruple the installed capacity of the various energy generation facilities it deploys from 85GW in 2020 to 356GW in 2045.
The company released the study, “The Road to Net Zero: California’s Roadmap to Decarbonization,” with recommendations designed to help achieve the state’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2045.
To achieve this, California will need to deploy battery storage systems with a total installed capacity of 40GW, as well as 20GW of green hydrogen generation facilities to dispatch generation, the company added. According to the latest monthly statistics released by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) in March, about 2,728MW of energy storage systems were connected to the grid in the state in March, but there were no green hydrogen generation facilities.
In addition to electrification in sectors such as transportation and buildings, power reliability is an important part of California’s green transition, the report said. The San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) study was the first to incorporate reliability standards for the utility industry.
The Boston Consulting Group, Black & Veatch, and UC San Diego professor David G. Victor provided technical support for the research conducted by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E).
To meet the goals, California needs to accelerate decarbonization by a factor of 4.5 over the past decade and quadruple the installed capacity for deployment of various energy generation facilities, from 85GW in 2020 to 356GW in 2045, half of which is Solar power generation facilities.
That number differs slightly from data recently released by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) said in its report that 37 GW of battery storage and 4 GW of long-duration storage would need to be deployed by 2045 to achieve its goal. Other data released earlier indicated that the installed capacity of long-term energy storage systems that need to be deployed will reach 55GW.
However, only 2.5GW of energy storage systems are located in the San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) service area, and the mid-2030 target is only 1.5GW. At the end of 2020, that figure was only 331MW, which includes utilities and third parties.
According to a study by San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), the company (and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) each have 10 percent of the installed renewable energy capacity that needs to be deployed by 2045) %above.
San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) estimates that California’s demand for green hydrogen will reach 6.5 million tons by 2045, 80 percent of which will be used to improve the reliability of the power supply.
The report also said significant investment in the region’s power infrastructure is needed to support higher power capacity. In its modeling, California will import 34GW of renewable energy from other states, and the interconnected grid in the western United States is critical to ensuring the long-term reliability of California’s power system.
Post time: May-05-2022
