(Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to correct the cost of the Black Walnut project and a nearby project. The Black Walnut project is $30 million. A nearby project named Santa Paula is estimated at $20 million.)
A battery storage project completed in Santa Paula will make sure energy is available to meet growing demands for air conditioning and new manufacturing.
A ribbon-cutting event for the Black Walnut project, at 211 N. 12th St., about a block away from another battery storage project, was held on March 12.
“The projects store electricity in large batteries and release it back to the power grid when it is needed most, such as during high demand or when renewable energy like solar is not producing,” said Randolph Mann, the chief executive officer for developer esVolta, in an email.
In other words, Black Walnut helps keep the power grid stable and reduces the risk of outages, he said.
Newport Beach-based esVolta is the energy storage developer and operator behind the two adjacent projects.
The projects also help the state rely more on renewable power and move toward a cleaner energy system by storing clean energy and making it available later, Mann said.
California’s electricity grid uses high-voltage, long-distance power lines to deliver electricity from where it is produced to where it is used.
The Black Walnut project transformed a former truck parking site into a 15 megawatt clean energy facility, according to a news release.
Everything onsite is enclosed inside containers with racks of batteries inside that were not opened at the ribbon cutting because they were being charged, said Marci Palmstrom, vice president of asset management at esVolta.
Firefighters from the Ventura County Fire Department also attended the ribbon-cutting event and participated in a tour of the facility.
Firefighter Andrew Dowd, a spokesman with the Ventura County Fire Department, said that the fire strategy for a lithium-ion battery facility is different than a multi-storage building or a single-family residence.
“Sometimes lithium-ion fires can require significant volumes of water,” Dowd said. Firefighters were at the site to find any unique hazards and make operational plans in case of an emergency, he said.
Officials said the facility was safe and the site was monitored 24/7 for temperatures and alarms, while an operating company was about 10 to 15 minutes away.
The 15 megawatt Black Walnut project has enough energy to power about 15,000 households, Mann said, as a constant muffled hum of the energy facility could be heard in the background.
The company also buys and sells energy from the state power grid during the day and provides that capacity to a series of municipal utilities, he said.
The company has another energy storage project called the Santa Paula Battery Energy Storage Project at 132 N. 13th St., across the railroad tracks nearby.
As more people use electricity for air conditioning, electric vehicles, new homes and new manufacturing, the grid will need additional power sources to make sure there is always enough supply, Mann said.
The Black Walnut project meets local grid capacity requirements in an area that has historically experienced power grid constraints, he said.
Black Walnut has a containerized battery configuration, while the other 30 megawatt project features batteries housed in a building, he said.
The Black Walnut project cost is about $30 million, while the Santa Paula project is estimated at $20 million, Mann said.
Wes Woods II covers West County for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at wesley.woodsii@vcstar.com, 805-437-0262 or @JournoWes.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: $30M Santa Paula project set to deter blackouts during peak demand
Reporting by Wes Woods II, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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