Radiant BMT, an affiliate of Radiant West, is developing a portfolio of smaller hybrid solar photovoltaic + battery projects in California. Responding to Governor Brown's Clean Energy Jobs Plan targeting deployment of new distributed renewable energy projects, these projects are each sized from one to several megawatts in size and interconnect directly into electrical distribution lines that serve local electrical needs. These projects are sited on smaller parcels (10 - 50 acres) and closer in to population centers. This approach contrasts with large solar PV projects that are usually sited on large swaths of remote, oftentimes pristine desert land and can only deliver to loads by wheeling the output over long distances using large transmission lines.
“California should develop 12,000 megawatts of localized energy by 2020. Localized energy is onsite or small energy systems located close to where energy is consumed that can be constructed quickly (without new transmission lines) and typically without any environmental impact.”
Radiant is pioneering the co-location of onsite battery storage with this type of distributed wholesale generation plant to improve overall environmental and economic performance. Each site features an onsite battery system that can only be charged by the on-site solar PV system. Grid power that includes electricity generated from polluting sources like coal and natural gas is never used to charge the batteries at Radiant's facilities. In the middle of the day when more energy is available than can be supplied to the grid, solar energy is stored in batteries on-site. As the sun sinks and solar production drops from conventional solar plants, Radiant's facilities will supply solar energy into the grid at the time it is most needed in the late afternoon and evening hours as electrical demand ramps up.
BENEFITS OF RADIANT'S SOLAR PV + BATTERIES
1. Help California utilities meet their wholesale distributed generation goals and encourage innovative application of clean, renewable technologies,
2. Help California utilities achieve their Renewable Portfolio Standard mandate of 50% renewable electricity by 2030,
3. Support progress toward meeting Governor Brown’s Clean Energy Jobs Plan targeting deployment of 12 gigawatts of new distributed energy projects by 2020,
4. Help California's grid manager (CAISO) manage the challenge of integrating a growing share of intermittent renewable energy into the power system, and
5. Advance development and deployment of innovative hybrid projects pairing renewable generation with energy storage to support the state of California's energy storage goals (AB2514).