Energy Storage

Energy storage is the key to balancing the supply and demand equation. It serves as a method to advance the relationship between energy consumption and production in order to increase efficiency and reduce production costs.

Solar Energy Storage

UC San Diego partners with technology leaders to implement solar energy projects.

• The California Energy Commission is funding testing of ultracapacitors –devices that charge quickly and store energy from an electric source and discharge it on demand. Through this program, Maxwell Technologies has been able to integrate its ultracapacitors with the Mandell Weiss Forum’s 30 kilowatt solar array and the campus microgrid, providing a real world opportunity for demonstrating the feasibility of using ultracapacitors for solar smoothing.
• UC San Diego’s Trade St. Receiving & Distribution Center has a 250 kilowatt/500 kilowatt-hour energy storage system integrated with its rooftop 266 kilowatt solar array.

In addition to these systems, a standalone 2.5 Megawatt/5 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system is interconnected with the campus microgrid.