The Southern Company’s SO subsidiary Southern Power announced plans to add battery-based energy storage resources at its Tranquillity Solar and Garland Solar Facility in California in an attempt to balance the production and the consumption of energy.The utility acquired two 20-year power purchase agreements from Southern California Edison (“SCE”) for the two solar facilities, which commenced operations in 2016. Notably, the agreements are two of the first co-located solar and storage projects to operate in the California market.Southern Power mentioned that the Tranquillity Solar Facility of 205 megawatts (MW) in Fresno County California will be incremented with a 72-megawatts and 288 Megawatts-hours (MWh) energy storage system. At the same time, an 88-MW and 352-MWh energy storage will be added to the 200-MW Garland Solar Facility in Kern County of California.The added battery-based energy storage resources are likely to improve the electric grid reliability of California. Beside this, additional flexible resource capacity will be offered to SCE and the California ISO in order to continue incorporating renewable energy into the grid.The energy storage projects will be owned by Southern Power and partners — AIP Management and Global Atlantic Financial Group. It is to be noted that both firms have existing equity shares in the two sites from the time they became operational. Southern Power is the operator of the solar firms and will be in charge of managing the energy storage projects following the completion.On its part, Southern Power believes that the increase of the storage resources to the utility’s portfolio of clean energy is in line with its business strategies, which will contribute to addressing customers’ needs as the energy industry continues to grow. Notably, the projects are crucial toward the utility's aim to deliver clean and reliable energy and uphold Southern Company's goal for net-zero emissions by 2050.Company ProfileHeadquartered in Atlanta, GA, Southern Company is one of the largest utility companies in the United States.Zacks Rank & Stocks to ConsiderThe company currently carries a Zack Rank #3 (Hold).Some better-ranked players in the utility space are Korea Electric Power Corporation KEP, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and ONEOK, Inc OKE and RWE AG RWEOY, eachcarrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.Korea Electric’s earnings for 2021 are expected to increase 38.4% year over year.ONEOK’s earnings for 2021 are expected to increase 116.4% year over year.RWE AG’s earnings for 2021 are expected to increase 37.6% year over year.More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 77 billion devices by 2025, creating a $1.3 trillion market.Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 4 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2022.Click here for the 4 trades >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Southern Company The (SO): Free Stock Analysis Report ONEOK, Inc. (OKE): Free Stock Analysis Report Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEP): Free Stock Analysis Report RWE AG (RWEOY): Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research