Barona Community LDES Project
Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians of the Barona Reservation, California
Recipient
Lakeside, CA
Recipient Location
40th
Senate District
75th
Assembly District
Active
Project Status
Project Update
Shortly after kicking off in August of 2024, the project was paused due to insolvency of the identified long duration energy storage (LDES) technology provider. The project team is evaluating alternative LDES technology providers through interviews and issuing a request for information.
The Issue
Lithium ion batteries are the dominant electricity storage technology in the market, however they become prohibitively expensive for long storage durations and face challenges related to thermal runaway and fire safety. These drawbacks create increased costs and siting constraints that necessitate the development and demonstration of alternative long duration energy storage technologies.
Project Innovation
This Agreement will fund the Barona Community Long Duration Energy Storage Project, which seeks to overcome technological challenges that prevent non-lithium (Li) long-duration energy storage systems from achieving greater scale and functional capabilities to support community energy resiliency. The project will demonstrate a long duration energy storage (LDES) system to provide resilient and economical energy supplies for essential Tribal facilities in the Barona Band of Mission Indians community. The proposed LDES system has the ability to discharge at least 100 kW for durations up to 24 hours, which will deliver greater resiliency and lifetime energy cost savings over competing technologies. The project will demonstrate a technology that is more flexible and avoids the safety and flammability risks of lithium ion batteries.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
This agreement will reduce the impacts of public power safety shutoffs and other grid outages to the Barona Band of Mission Indians community, powering critical facilities and increasing their resilience while helping lower total energy costs for the tribe.
Environmental Sustainability
The LDES system and clean energy microgrid will reduce the use of fossil fueled backup power generation used on-site, reducing greenhouse gas and criteria air pollution emissions during outages.
Safety
The LDES technology demonstrated has improved safety characteristics compared to lithium ion battery storage including lower fire risk associated with thermal runaway.
Key Project Members
Joshua Simmons
Subrecipients
The Regents of the University of California on behalf of the Riverside campus
Prosper Sustainably, LLC
Southern California Tribal Chairmen's Association
Burr Energy LLC dba Microgrid Institute
Match Partners
Prosper Sustainably, LLC
Barona Group of Capitan Grande Band of Mission Indians of the Barona Reservation, California
