Utility-scale batteries win the interconnection race that solar lost
The queue prefers a four-hour asset.
Utility-scale battery containers
LOS ANGELES — Solar still wants to be built. Batteries are being allowed to connect. Developers said standalone storage is winning staff time at ISOs because it can be described as flexibility, whereas another midday solar farm can be described as a duck curve.
That does not end the solar build. It changes the pairing. Hybrid projects that show up with a battery are being taken seriously. Bare solar is waiting in a longer line.
For capital, this is a product-mix shift. The next two years of U.S. clean-energy IRRs will have more lithium and less unclipped photovoltaic optimism.
David Chen
Energy and Infrastructure Correspondent
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