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PG&E Corp.'s (PCG) Unit to Add 387 MW of Battery Storage

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PG&E Corporation (PCG - Free Report) announced that its subsidiary, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has applied to the California Public Utilities Commission (“CPUC”) for the approval of six additional battery energy storage projects totaling 387 megawatts (MW) of capacity. These battery storage projects will increase the resilience and reliability of the entire electric system.

These projects will complete PG&E’s procurement requirements outlined in a November 2019 CPUC decision that identified potential electric system reliability issues beginning in the summer of 2021. In that decision, the CPUC authorized PG&E to procure at least 716.9 MW of system reliability resources to come online between Aug 1, 2021 and Aug 1, 2023.

The company is committed to California’s clean energy future by implementing and advocating the usage of clean and renewable energy. The battery storage will support its renewable projects and improve grid resilience.

Battery Storage Projects

Renewable sources like solar, wind and water-based power plants are going to play an important role in lowering emission levels globally. Although the renewable projects are not productive 24x7 due to natural causes, that does not hamper the demand for electricity. The development of large-scale battery projects in a way further supports growth of power plants based on renewable sources. These batteries will store the excess electricity produced by the renewable plants and supply them to consumers when the production is low from renewable sites.

The ongoing research and development has lowered the cost of production of efficient batteries and utilities are investing in battery storage projects to bring more stability in the electric system. Per the U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”), nearly 8 gigawatt (GW) of renewables plus storage projects are expected to come online by 2023-end. Per EIA, at 2018-end, the United States had a battery storage capacity of around 1.24 GWh.

NextEra Energy (NEE - Free Report) is also working to produce a substantial volume of electricity through clean sources and at present, its unit Energy Resources has nearly 2.5 GW of energy storage projects in the pipeline.

Price Performance

In the past 12 months, shares of the company have gained 14.2% against the industry’s 7.3% decline.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

The company currently has a Zacks Rank#3 (Hold). A couple of better-ranked stocks in the same space include PPL Corporation (PPL - Free Report) and Pinnacle West Capital Corporation (PNW - Free Report) , each having a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

PPL Corp. and Pinnacle West Capital have a dividend yield of 6.2% and 4.29%, respectively, which is better than the industry’s 3.35%.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2021 earnings of PPL Corp and Pinnacle West Capital has moved up 6.3% and 1.2%, respectively, in the past 60 days.

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