Giant Batteries Helped the U.S. Power Grid Eke Through Summer

Electric-grid operators from Pennsylvania to California have skated through a season of high temperatures with a combination of existing and new energy supplies, including batteries, that have added up to enough to avoid rolling blackouts. Large-scale batteries have filled in when large power plants tripped offline and helped stabilize the grid.

“But even as more batteries connect to the grid, power demand will keep growing too, along with intermittent, weather-dependent solar and wind development, said Patrick Meyer, senior vice president of portfolio management at GlidePath, which owns battery-storage projects in Texas and Pennsylvania. “You’ve got extreme volatility in the markets right now,” Meyer said.

Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal

(image by The Wall Street Journal)