POWER October 2021 - 32

TOP PLANT
Stanton Energy Reliability Center
Hybrid Supplies Power When
Southern California Needs It Most
Courtesy: W Power
Stanton Energy Reliability Center is a unique hybrid power station that includes
two GE LM6000 gas turbines, each integrated with a battery energy storage
system. The station provides reliable and stable power generation needed by
the California power grid.
Aaron Larson
C
alifornia has long been a leader
in the world's transition toward
renewable energy. In 2018, California
established a landmark policy requiring
that 100% of electric retail sales
to customers in the state be supplied
by renewable and zero-carbon energy
resources by 2045. The U.S. Energy Information
Administration has reported
that renewable resources, including
hydropower and small-scale (less than
one MW) customer-sited solar photovoltaic
systems, are already supplying more
than half of California's in-state electricity
generation. In March this year, the California
Energy Commission (CEC), California
Public Utilities Commission (CPUC),
and California Air Resources Board
(CARB) issued a joint agency report that
found the state's clean energy goals are
indeed achievable, and in multiple ways.
Yet, the state has also felt the effects of
power shortages in recent years. In midAugust
2020, while the Western U.S. was
experiencing some of the most extreme
heat it has encountered in recorded history
with temperatures in some locations up to
20F above normal, the California Independent
System Operator (CAISO) was forced
to initiate rotating outages to maintain grid
stability. Hundreds of thousands of customers
were affected by the rolling blackouts
for periods of up to 2.5 hours. Power
companies, grid operators, and regulators
all came under scrutiny as a result.
This year, with hydroelectric facilities
facing low reservoir levels due to drought,
and wildfires impacting transmission lines
used to import energy to California from
the north, Gov. Gavin Newsom acted in
July to free up additional energy capac32
ity.
In addition to signing an emergency
proclamation, which suspended certain
permitting requirements to enable the
use of backup power generation, among
other things, he also signed an executive
order allowing the emergency use of auxiliary
ship engines to relieve pressure on
the electric grid.
Then, in August, the CEC approved licenses-good
for up to five years-for gasfired
power units to help the state cope with
electricity shortages. The move allowed the
Department of Water Resources to procure
five temporary gas-fueled generators, each
with generation capacity of 30 MW, for installation
at existing power plants.
The EGT Hybrid Solution
One state-of-the-art power plant that has
fulfilled its promise, and added reliability
and stability to California's power grid is the
Stanton Energy Reliability Center (SERC).
SERC is a hybrid energy storage system
based on a package called EGT, which
was jointly developed by General Electric
International Inc. (GE) and Wellhead Power
Solutions-the technology affiliate of Wellhead
Electric Company Inc. EGT combines
combustion turbine technology with an integrated
battery storage system operated
by a proprietary software system, thereby
providing a broad array of unique reliability
benefits that neither turbines nor batteries
can provide on their own.
In the case of SERC, the station consists
of two GE LM6000 gas turbines,
each integrated with a 10-MW/4.3-MWh
battery (Figure 1), providing a total output
of 98 MW. As the first greenfield
application of this cutting-edge hybrid
system, SERC is a model for future projects
and a deserving winner of a 2021
www.powermag.com
1. The Stanton Energy Reliability Center
includes two GE LM6000 gas turbines, each
integrated with a 10-MW/4.3-MWh battery
energy storage system (visible in the
foreground of this image). The site footprint
is long and narrow with power lines to contend
with and a storm drain channel crossing
through the center. Courtesy: W Power
POWER Top Plant award in the gas-fired
power category.
" The ideation of the EGT hybrid concept
came as a result of an observation
that the California ISO seemed to be
frequently dispatching peaker projects
to their Pmin [the minimum normal capability
of the generating unit], seemingly
for reliability purposes and not for energy,
with a relatively large emission of
greenhouse gases and other pollutants, "
Grant McDaniel, director of Hybrid Energy
Engineering with Wellhead Power
Solutions, explained. " The inventors of
the EGT hybrid concept discovered that
with hybridization a peaker's operating
characteristics could be expanded to include
greenhouse gas-free spinning reserve
and emissions of all forms would
be dramatically reduced. In practice, this
reduction of greenhouse gas and other
emissions has been realized. "
EGT technology provides for larger
operating ranges and instantaneous
POWER | October 2021
http://www.powermag.com
POWER October 2021

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