The Year Ahead

A Megabattery Boom Is Coming to Rescue Overloaded Power Grids

The race began at 100 megawatts. Now 300- and 400-megawatt plants are on the way.

Provide news feedback or report an error

Confidential tip?

Send a tip to our reporters

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

By Brian Eckhouse and David Stringer

January 22, 2021 at 5:01 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

This article is part of the January 25, 2021 issue of businessweek.

The world’s overloaded power grids are on the cusp of a megabattery boom. California, keen to avoid last year’s blackouts, could add more than 2 gigawatts of energy storage, including from batteries, by summer. The frenzied rush to claim the title of “biggest battery” started in 2017, when Tesla Inc. and French renewable energy company Neoen SA installed the first 100-megawatt lithium-ion storage project in Australia. As systems get bigger, they can store and dispatch more energy. That’s seen the titleholder changing frequently—leading to Vistra Corp.’s 300MW Moss Landing project in California claiming the current top spot.

● Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility
Monterey County, Calif.

Initial capacity: 300MW; 1,200 megawatt-hours
After expansion: 400MW; 1,600MWh