Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our Service & Solidarity Spotlight series, we'll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
More than 135 members of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 440 have worked on a $500 million project in the Southern California desert that represents the future of energy storage. The Desert Peak Energy Storage facility houses 459 identical shipping containers stacked floor to ceiling with lithium-ion batteries, which will be enough to provide power to more than 265,000 homes for up to four hours. Once completed, the 400-megawatt (MW) project will be the largest battery storage facility in the country, replacing the Crimson Energy Storage facility, also built by IBEW Local 440..
“This Southern California land is the perfect place for storage because it is close to load—power demand—and [has] plenty of sun and wind and land to site it,” said John Bzdawka, Sixth District Business Development international representative. “But projects in other places that were not viable even just a year ago now look like no-brainers. States are demanding it, and the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act are helping it. This work is coming. It’s ours if we can man it.”
Over the past two years, Local 440 has worked on six projects larger than 100 MW. Two more are breaking ground this year, including a 640-MW project that will be the next record holder. This growth in renewable energy generation and storage has been a primary driver of growth for the union. Southern California locals have added well over 1,000 new members over the past decade. Local 440 alone has doubled to 1,400 members.
“This is a global transformation, not just a California one. Rapid technological changes are driving investment, and federal law is driving it toward unions,” said Ninth District International Representative Micah Mitrosky. “If you look at it comprehensively, at generation and transmission, border to border, how many new members do we need to deliver on this? Double? Triple? When have we ever had a conversation like we are having today?”