Georgia's largest battery storage facility unveiled in Ball Ground to help with peak demands

Across 40 acres in Cherokee County, banks of Tesla batteries store something Georgians depend on every day: electricity for when they need it most.Georgia Power celebrated its McGrau Ford Battery Facility with a ribbon-cutting on Friday. The utility describes the 530-megawatt installation as Georgia's largest battery energy storage system.The batteries don't generate electricity. They charge from the grid, storing power that can be released when demand rises, such as when households turn on their heat or air conditioning at the same time.Rick Anderson, Georgia Power's senior vice president and senior production officer, said that also gives the utility a way to manage the cost of supplying electricity."You might have at night where costs are really low. You have excess capacity," Anderson said. "You can take the excess capacity stored in a battery."When electricity becomes more expensive, the utility can discharge that stored power rather than obtain electricity at a much higher cost,