This piece from TWW’s Greg Brophy originally ran in RealClear Politics on May 28th and can be accessed here.
As Costs Fall, Battery Storage Is Surging
By Greg Brophy
Over the past 25 years, our lives have changed in so many ways. But one of the biggest changes would have to be the role that batteries play in our everyday activities.
Smart phones, laptops, tablets, hybrid cars and fully electric vehicles – we are literally surrounded by these technologies which all, to some extent, are built around batteries.
As a farmer and state legislator from Colorado’s Eastern Plains, I remember turning heads by driving a Toyota Prius – the first hybrid-electric car to be a commercial success – in the late 2000s. Years later, however, it was no big deal when I traded up to a hybrid SUV.
Ironically enough, one area where batteries have been slow to take off is the power grid itself. But that is quickly changing.
In the space of a few years, the U.S. power sector has added 16 gigawatts of battery storage capacity, according to 2023 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. For scale, a large nuclear power plant has a capacity of roughly 1 gigawatt.
The biggest reason is pure economics: Over the past decade, the cost of battery storage has fallen by more than 80%. By the end of this year, battery capacity on the U.S. power grid could almost double to 31 gigawatts, the EIA predicts.
This will provide a critically important source of backup electricity for the power grid during severe weather and other interruptions.
It’s also a big deal for renewable energy facilities, everywhere from wind farms on the Eastern Plains to stand alone storage facilities on the Western Slope. Batteries can store electricity from the all sources of generation on the grid including wind and solar so it can be used around the clock, not just when the wind is blowing and the sun is shining.
As a national leader in all forms of energy, Colorado is not sitting on the sidelines when it comes to battery storage.
Colorado is currently the seventh largest battery storage state. We have about 20% more battery storage than New York, in fact.
Plans on the table would add almost 2 gigawatts of new battery storage capacity in Colorado by 2030 – a roughly eight-fold expansion of our current capacity.
One example of this trend can be found where the rural electric cooperative United Power is expanding its battery storage portfolio to keep up with rapid growth of about 6% per year.
“The use of batteries on our distribution network is essential to a resilient and responsive power system, and we are excited to be moving ahead with one of the most aggressive plans for such a system,” Mark Gabriel, United Power’s President and CEO, said when the expansion was announced.
“These battery arrays will allow us to balance our power needs throughout the day and incorporate local renewables more efficiently.”
Another project worth watching is happening in Pueblo. Xcel Energy is partnering with a company called Form Energy to build a long-duration energy storage facility next to the Comanche coal-fired power plant.
The battery will use iron-air batteries – an alternative to lithium-ion technology – to store electricity from solar and wind facilities for up to four days at a time.
To be sure, energy storage projects have their critics. Some of the loudest voices point to a 2019 explosion at an energy storage facility in Arizona, which injured nine first responders.
At the time, energy storage facilities were still very new and the firefighters had not received specialized training, as they receive for other kinds of energy infrastructure like electrical transformers or oil and gas wells.
However, since then, the National Fire Protection Association has developed standards and training courses to fill this gap. In addition, energy storage systems receive the same regulatory scrutiny as other pieces of infrastructure on the power grid that we live and work around every day without any safety concerns.
And personally, I can say that over the past 17 years, I’ve driven more than 600,000 miles in two different vehicles, each with sizable batteries, and I’ve never had any reason to worry. Like other energy technologies, from fracking to rooftop solar panels and everything in between, the risks are manageable and are actively being managed.
For decades, Colorado has been an “all of the above” energy state, where new energy sources and innovations are welcomed, because they provide more choice and competition in a critical economic sector.
As we write the next chapter of Colorado’s energy storage, it’s clear that battery storage will be one of the promising new technologies that will join with others to support our economy and our way of life.
Greg Brophy is a farmer and former state senator from Wray, Colo. He is the Colorado director for The Western Way.