MOJAVE, Calif.- One of the largest solar and battery power plants in the United States is now supplying Los Angeles and Glendale from Kern County.
Local leaders and clean energy experts gathered Tuesday beneath a blazing desert sun to mark the initiation of full production from 1.36 million solar panels and 172 lithium iron phosphate batteries that make up the Eland solar-plus-storage electricity project. It’s as large as 13 Dodger stadiums, parking lots included, and will generate 7% of the electricity for all of the city of Los Angeles, much of it at a record-low price.
L.A.’s Power Grid Gets a Boost From Massive Battery Storage System
By Sammy Roth
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has officially activated a massive battery storage system connected to its Eland Solar and Storage Center in Kern County, marking a important step toward a cleaner and more reliable power grid.
the system, boasting a capacity of 70 megawatts and 280 megawatt-hours, can store enough electricity to power roughly 70,000 homes for four hours. This is a crucial progress as California aims to transition to 100% clean energy, relying heavily on intermittent renewable sources like solar and wind.
“This is a game-changer for Los Angeles,” said Mayor Karen Bass at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. “It’s a critical investment in our city’s future, ensuring a more sustainable and resilient energy supply for all Angelenos.”
The Eland facility combines 260 megawatts of solar generation with the new battery storage, allowing the DWP to capture excess solar energy during the day and dispatch it during peak demand hours, notably in the evenings when solar production declines.This helps reduce reliance on natural gas-fired power plants, lowering greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality.
the project addresses a key challenge with renewable energy: its variability. Batteries smooth out the fluctuations in solar and wind power, providing a more consistent and dependable energy source.
“Battery storage is essential for integrating more renewables onto the grid,” explained DWP General Manager Martin Adams. “It allows us to maximize the benefits of clean energy while maintaining grid stability.”
The Eland project is just one piece of a larger effort by the DWP to expand battery storage capacity across Los Angeles. The utility plans to add several gigawatt-hours of storage in the coming years, further solidifying the city’s commitment to a clean energy future.## California’s New Solar and Battery Plant signals a Continued Push for clean Energy
Battery energy storage units at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s biggest solar and battery storage plant,the Eland Solar and Storage Center in the Mojave Desert of Kern County.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Locating batteries together with solar power or wind allows them to charge up on the clean energy,then feed it back to people’s homes after the sun goes down or the wind stops blowing. At the end of 2023, there were close to 469 such “hybrid” clean power plants in the U.S., according to a recent report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
In California, nearly every new solar project waiting to be connected to the electrical grid included batteries.All scenarios for effectively addressing climate change call for using storage.The Eland project is also coming online as the Trump administration is slowing the transition to clean energy with dozens of measures that favor electricity made from coal and natural gas. The president’s so-called Big Beautiful Bill ends federal tax credits for wind and solar within the next two years.
But in California and a number of other states where addressing climate change is mandated, the transition is highly likely to continue.
“I spent 12 years in D.C., and to be home, where this is not a controversy – there’s no controversy about climate goals and solar and renewables – it’s an exciting day,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told The Times.
Eland “represents a significant milestone toward reaching our climate goals, and it also just reinforces our stature of leading the country in terms of renewables and moving toward clean energy goals,” Bass said.
Kevin Smith, chief executive officer of Arevon, said solar paired with battery storage is currently the cheapest source of energy “with or without tax credits,” and the fastest to deliver to market. The eland project took about two years to complete once the first shovel was in the ground, compared with nuclear or natural gas projects that can take several years longer, he said.
Smith also cited the sudden increase in forecast need for electricity for data centers.”If we don’t meet that demand, that means the AI future is going to be won by the Chinese, because they’re building more solar in a month than we build i
L.A.’s enterprising plan to rely on clean energy faces a critical test
For years, Los Angeles has set ambitious goals for transitioning to clean energy, envisioning a future powered by solar, wind and battery storage. But as the city races to meet its 2045 deadline to be 100% carbon-free, a critical question looms: Can it deliver enough power when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing?
The answer hinges largely on the success of massive projects like the Eland Solar & Storage Center in Kern County, a sprawling complex of solar panels paired with giant battery packs. It’s a cornerstone of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s (LADWP) strategy to replace the aging natural gas plants that currently provide a significant portion of the city’s electricity.
“This is really the future of how we’re going to be operating the grid,” said Joseph Rudek, LADWP’s chief energy officer, during a recent tour of the Eland facility. “It’s not just about building solar. It’s about building solar and storage.”
The Eland project, which came online in late 2023, can generate 420 megawatts of solar power and store 3,272 megawatt-hours of energy in its batteries – enough to power roughly 275,000 homes for four hours. But even with projects like Eland, challenges remain.
Experts point to the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources as a major hurdle. Solar power peaks during the day, while demand often surges in the evenings. Batteries help bridge that gap, but their capacity is limited. Furthermore,the supply chain for critical battery materials like lithium is vulnerable,and the environmental impact of mining those materials is a growing concern.
“Storage is essential, but it’s not a silver bullet,” said Meredith Fowlie, a professor of resource economics at UC Berkeley. “We need a diverse portfolio of clean energy resources, including wind, geothermal, and potentially even clean hydrogen, to ensure reliability.”
LADWP is also exploring other strategies, such as demand response programs that incentivize customers to reduce their energy consumption during peak hours. The utility is betting that a combination of these approaches will allow it to achieve its ambitious climate goals – and keep the lights on – even as the sun sets on fossil fuels.