The two projects were selected as part of phases 2 and 3 of SCE’s Midterm Reliability RFO (MTRRFO) – released in October 2022 and February 2023, respectively – and will fulfil part of the utility’s procurement requirements as mandated by CPUC.
Along with the new RA contracts, SCE is also seeking regulatory approval of an amendment to an existing 100MW RA agreement selected as part of the utility’s phase 1 MTRRFO originally approved by CPUC in May 2022.
Second phase of AES-owned solar-plus-BESS facility
The larger of the two RA contracts covers 500MW of nameplate battery storage capacity from the second phase of AES Corporation’s Bellefield solar and storage facility located in Kern County, California.
The lithium-ion based BESS will interconnect to the CAISO grid via SCE’s Windhub 220kV substation and be co-located with a 500MW solar farm. A CAISO interconnection agreement for the project covering 500MW of both solar and energy storage capacity has been secured (queue no. 1631).
The second phase BESS is contracted to come online June 1 2026 and supply RA for a period of 15 years. It was announced last year that AES had purchased the first two phases of the Bellefield development from utility-scale solar and storage developer Avantus.
SCE has a separate agreement with AES for 500MW of RA from the first phase of the Bellefield project selected as part of a separate utility procurement approved by CPUC in March of this year.
Rev Renewables BESS
The second RA agreement covers 250MW of nameplate BESS capacity from Rev Renewables’ Commerce Energy Storage facility located in the city of Commerce, Los Angeles County.
Rev Renewables currently holds three CAISO queue positions for the Commerce development (queue no’s. 1611, 1766 and 2139), with each of the three positions designated for 250MW of storage capacity connecting to SCE’s Laguna Bell 230kV substation.
So far, the developer has managed to secure an interconnection agreement for the first phase of the project – Commerce Energy Storage 1 – which is the portion relating to the SCE RA agreement.
REV Renewables was launched as a development platform by independent power producer (IPP) LS Power in 2021. Its existing projects include the 150MW/250MWh LeConte project in California pictured above, which went online ahead of summer heatwaves in 2022.
Under the terms of the agreement, SCE will begin receiving RA from the project in June 2026 for a period of 15 years.
Delays to Arevon standalone BESS project
SCE is also seeking regulatory approval to delay the initial delivery date of 100MW/400WMh worth of RA from Arevon Energy’s Peregrine Energy Storage facility by a year from June 2024 to June 2025, in order for the “project to remain viable.”
Arevon, in collaboration with Tensaka, have secured a 200MW CAISO interconnection agreement for the lithium-ion based BESS which will interconnect to the grid via SCE’s Silvergate 230kV substation (queue no. 1670).
Arevon and Blackstone financing for California BESS
Earlier in the year, Arevon reached financial close on another one of its California standalone BESS developments as reported by Energy-Storage.News.
The two companies reached financial close on the 200MW/800MWh Condor Energy Storage facility through a US$350m preferred equity and debt financing along with the transfer of investment tax credits (ITCs).
Arevon’s Condor facility is also contracted with SCE to provide RA for a period of 15 years.
10GW of BESS already on California’s CAISO grid
SCE is one of the largest utilities in the US, providing electricity to 15 million people across a service territory of approximately 50,000 square miles. The utility is committed to carbon neutrality by 2045, in line with targets set into law by California Governor Gavin Newsom covered in Energy-Storage.News last year.
In April of this year, CAISO announced that it had surpassed 10GW of connected battery storage capacity which Governor Newsom hailed as an “energy storage revolution.”