Solar is the driving force of the energy transition but batteries are proving to be just as important for 21st century energy. California has brought so many onto the grid that they the state has run on solar for more than a day, with charged-during-daylight batteries carrying over the night.

New England is a battery laggard at the moment but a battery capable of released 175 megawatts for two hours has been turned on in Maine, as Canary Media reports.

New England states have issued a raft of energy storage targets in recent years, meant to complement their bevy of commitments to grid decarbonization. By 2030, Massachusetts aims to have 5 gigawatts, Connecticut 1 gigawatt, and Maine 400 megawatts. So far, however, it’s been slow going, even as storage has taken off in states like California and Texas. New England has managed to build just two battery installations with more than 100 megawatts: Plus Power’s Cross Town and its 150-megawatt Cranberry Point Energy Storage project, which came online in Massachusetts in June.

It will employ two permanent maintenance staff when the largely automated facility is running, and pay $8 million in tax revenue to the town of Gorham.

Its location by Portland means it is below the transmission bottleneck that keeps all the cheap hydropower and wind power in Maijne and Quebec from getting to points south. The batteries charge up from cheap renewable energy then release it as needed.