Across the US, batteries and green energies like wind and solar combine for major climate solution

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT
Associated Press

In the Arizona desert, a Danish company is building a massive solar farm that includes batteries that charge when the sun is shining and supply energy back to the electric grid when it’s not. Ørsted’s Eleven Mile Solar Center has more than 850,000 solar panels and opens this summer. The United States is rapidly adding batteries, most of them the lithium-ion type, to store energy at large scale. Increasingly, these are getting combined with solar and wind projects. The agencies that run electric grids, utilities and renewable developers say this is essential for a clean energy future because batteries allow renewables to replace fossil fuels, while keeping the lights on and delivering power exactly when it’s needed.