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The summer of 2025 pushed the U.S. electric grid to its limits. A brutal heat dome swept across the East Coast, while a powerful derecho tore through the Midwest, leaving more than 28,000 homes and businesses without power in Iowa alone. Demand surged to record levels. Yet despite the pressure, the grid avoided major blackouts. Smarter, more flexible systems are beginning to deliver results, but the need for faster transformation is undeniable.

California utility PG&E announced a $73-billion capital expenditure plan covering the next five years, with investments targeting infrastructure upgrades to support growing demand for electricity in its territory, particularly from data centers.

A leading provider of grid-connected energy storage solutions announced the start of commercial operation for a project in Imperial County, California. LS Energy Solutions (LS-ES) on September 4 said its Big Rock 200-MW/400-MWh site, which was developed in partnership with Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (GSF), is the company’s largest energy storage installation to date and its first for the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) grid.

Germany-based TWAICE, a provider of predictive analytics software for battery energy storage systems (BESS), has announced a three-year partnership with independent power producer Fullmark Energy. TWAICE on August 27 said its Battery Storage Analytics platform will support four energy storage installations operated by Fullmark in Southern California. The sites will have a total capacity of […]

GridBeyond now offers revenue floor and toll contracts for selected power storage projects in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and California Independent System Operator (CAISO) markets. Backed by highly rated underwriting partners, these contracts provide project owners with new tools to de-risk their balance sheets or secure financing. Each contract is customizable, allowing […]

Participation in wholesale energy markets offers a critical source of revenue for battery energy storage systems (BESS). Across transmission organizations in the U.S., storage operators can deploy their units to participate in various wholesale markets.

Seven major U.S. grid operators have raised a unified alarm about an impending capacity crunch, warning that the pace and scale of explosive demand—including from data centers, manufacturing, and electrification—pose a precarious misalignment with accelerating generator retirements and transmission constraints. At a March 25 hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy, the […]

GridBeyond said it has signed a contract with Gore Street Energy Storage Fund to provide scheduling coordinator, trading, and energy optimization services for the 200-MW Big Rock energy storage system (ESS) in Southern California.

The energy grid is confronting unprecedented challenges, including surging demand, aging infrastructure, and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events. A deep freeze across the East Coast recently generated an all-time winter high demand on the PJM grid, while Texas and Florida dealt with a rare snowstorm. Demand response has emerged as a proven and […]

The need for more reliability and resilience of power delivery, both in the U.S. and worldwide, has utilities and grid operators looking for solutions to the challenge of bolstering the electricity supply. Electric grid infrastructure, both in the U.S. and other parts of the world, needs an upgrade. Increased power demand from energy-intensive industries such […]

Grid operators across the U.S. report they are largely prepared for the total solar eclipse that will pass over a large swath of North America on April 8, though they remain vigilant, monitoring for any unexpected shifts in power generation or demand that could test the power system’s resilience. The much-anticipated solar eclipse will begin […]

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has unanimously approved the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO’s) Day-Ahead Market Enhancements (DAME) and Extended Day-Ahead Market (EDAM) proposal, effectively allowing new market options to address challenges caused by increasing system variability and uncertainty in the West. FERC’s decision issued on Dec. 20, for the most part, accepts CAISO’s […]

An energy storage project in Southern California will provide resource adequacy (RA) and ancillary services to the state’s power grid, adding more reliability and resiliency for electricity in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) market. LS Energy Solutions (LS-ES), which provides grid-connected energy storage solutions, on September 7 said it would deploy 200 MW/400 MWh […]

The Western Energy Imbalance Market (WEIM), a real-time energy market operated by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO), has gained three new participants, including its first generation-only entity. CAISO on April 5 announced the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) Desert Southwest region, El Paso Electric (EPE), and AVANGRID have formally begun participation in the WEIM. […]

The first geothermal power plant built in more than three decades within the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) balancing authority has come online. Mammoth Pacific Geothermal, an Ormat Co. subsidiary, declared the 30-MW Casa Diablo IV (CD4) commercially operational on July 20. CD4 is located on public land two miles east of the Town of […]

An unprecedented array of risks—ranging from capacity shortfalls, extreme weather, extended drought, supply chain issues, cybersecurity, solar PV tripping, fuel constraints, to wildfires—could imperil the reliability of nearly every North American bulk power system (BPS) region west of the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) this summer, the North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) warned in […]

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) has completed a second energy storage project in its home city, a 20-MW/80-MWh facility located in Kearny Mesa. Utility officials on March 29 said the new installation is part of California’s push toward 100% carbon-free electricity. SDG&E in June 2021 completed the Top Gun Energy Storage project, a 30-MW/120-MWh […]

California’s power grid continues to evolve and will look much different by 2040, according to a 20-year draft transmission plan released by the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The plan calls for significant additional renewable energy resources, along with a $30.5-billion build-out of the transmission grid.  The outlook, developed by the grid operator along with […]

Flex Alert program now allows consumers to indicate potential participation FOLSOM, Calif. – The California Independent System Operator (ISO) has launched an upgraded version of its popular Flex Alert voluntary energy conservation program to add direct customer feedback and boost participation. The enhancements include an option for users to indicate their willingness to reduce electricity […]

Vistra, the Texas-based integrated retail electricity and power generation company, said it has completed the second phase of its Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility expansion project in California. The group on Aug. 19 announced it has added 100 MW/400 MWh to what at present is the world’s largest battery energy storage facility. “This facility provides […]

Large-scale battery power capacity in the U.S. surged 35% over 2020 to reach 1,650 MW, and according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), utilities are planning to ramp up that capacity by 10 GW over the next two years. In a newly released report, Battery Storage in the United States: An Update on Market Trends, […]

Intensifying drought conditions in California and historically low water levels at the Oroville Dam on Aug. 5 forced the state’s Department of Water Resources (CDWR) to shut down the 644-MW Edward Hyatt Power Plant—the fourth largest energy producer of all California’s hydroelectric facilities. Similar conditions across the West are prompting a careful watch over hydropower facilities.

The costs for wind and solar power generating systems have decreased dramatically over the past decade. According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the global weighted-average levelized

The rapidly spreading Bootleg Fire tripped off transmission lines that transport power from the Pacific Northwest to California and other states over the weekend, prompting the California Independent System Operator (ISO) to issue another Flex Alert—the sixth such conservation notification this summer. According to the state’s Incident Information System, the intense fire in Southern-Central Oregon […]

Stricken by repeated extreme heat events, the prospect of a worsening drought, incremental resource delays, and the “unforeseen” loss of 300 MW in thermal resources, California has set out to secure additional energy resources to ensure reliability this summer. Responding to a June 29 letter from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and the California […]

The need for demand response programs, particularly those that help stabilize the grid, is evident as electricity customers seek a more reliable power supply. Enter virtual power plants (VPPs), a way for

The North American Electric Reliability Corp. (NERC) is warning that large swathes of the North American bulk power system (BPS) could face “elevated risks” of energy shortfalls this summer, especially if temperatures surge beyond normal peaks. But in California, risks are even more pronounced, owing to its reliance on imports to offset falling solar PV […]

There’s new interest in one of the world’s oldest resources, as governments and investors worldwide look for advanced ways to tap geothermal energy. Geothermal wells have been producing energy for more

In mid-August, the western U.S. experienced some of the most extreme heat it has encountered in recorded history. Temperatures in some locations were up to 20F above normal. During the hot spell, California

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Sept. 6 took the rare but drastic action of issuing an emergency order under the Federal Power Act (FPA) to authorize the maximum operation of three natural gas–fired facilities on the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO’s) grid whose full capability had been stranded by federal air quality and […]