How A California Utility Used A Battery To Jumpstart A Power Plant

Music fans traveling northwest on highway 86 toward the Coachella music festival next year might not give the rolling hills of California's Imperial Valley more than a passing glance. But energy insiders know it as the site of a major technological feat that could herald a new era in power-grid resiliency.
In May, the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) performed the first “black start” of a power plant in North America. They did it by starting and revving up the El Centro power station to full power with only a GE battery energy storage system.