Catching Rays in California, and Storing Them

Image: The relatively new idea of using batteries to store electricity during the day and discharge it in the evening is aimed at coping with rapid changes in supply and demand. Mike Blake/Reuters

nytimes.com - December 23rd 2013 - Matthew L. Wald

Solar power is growing so fast in California — with installations by customers increasing tenfold since 2006 — that it is turning the state’s power system upside down.

In a twist that is being closely watched by power companies around the country, California utilities will install massive banks of batteries and other devices to store the power surplus created by solar panels in the afternoon, when the sun’s rays are strong. The batteries are then to begin discharging power into California’s electric grid in the early evening, around sunset, when the solar generation of energy dies down but demand rises as millions of people get home and turn on air-conditioners, televisions and other electricity gobblers.

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