Virtual Fireside Chat Open to the Public

California’s SB100 sets a target of 100% renewable (Carbon Free) retail electricity by 2045. Wind and Solar are highly dependent on atmospheric conditions and the seasons. Solar output goes down by 40-60% in the winter. How do we ensure that electricity is available 99.999% of the time when relying on such variable sources?

Our speakers will give overviews of their work. Julia Souder, the Executive Director of the Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) Association of California (LDESAC) will speak first, and will talk about various types of LDES, public policy gains and needs.  Then Dr. Noel Bakhtian will speak about the Berkeley Lab Energy Storage Center’s work on storage and describe the US-DOE’s long shot LDES initiative.

They will discuss how long duration energy storage has a diverse set of technologies representing thermal, chemical and mechanical storage as well as providing a plethora of ancillary services and benefits to the electrical power infrastructure.  They will describe community benefits and creative solutions toward ensuring that long duration energy storage meets our decarbonization goals in the near and long term, because 2045 is not far away and we really need to move even faster.

How does LDES address electric power reliability concerns, while also considering equity?
What are the barriers to achieving more long-duration storage deployment?
Why would doing nothing be more expensive than implementing now?

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