Solar News - Pro Bid Energy

Altea Green Power building 1GW of BESS in Italy

Altea Green Power said it is in “advanced negotiations” for a co-development sale agreement with two international investors for the portfolio. By 2026 Altea is aiming to have developed a BESS capacity of 5.5GW throughout Italy.

As Energy-Storage.news wrote in a recent edition of Solar Media’s quarterly journal PV Tech Power, Italy’s grid-scale market is set to boom in the next few years as more renewables come online and transmission system operator (TSO) Terna puts in place measures to facilitate its growth on the grid.

Altea describes itself as a developer and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) firm and recently discussed a separate 2GW pipeline of BESS it was selling in Italy with Energy-Storage.news (Premium access). The company is also developing BESS projects in the ERCOT market in the US state of Texas.

Giovanni Di Pascale, CEO of Altea Green Power, commented on the start of construction of Black BESS: “We are convinced that this [energy storage] market constitutes the natural outlet and boost for renewable energy and that it has ample margin for evolution and growth. By 2026, in Italy, we aim to reach 5.5GW by making available all our engineering know-how gained over the years, thus consolidating our role as a reference player”.

BESS projects in Italy are likely to have a 4-5 hour duration as most of their activity will be energy-intensive activities like load shifting or capacity market provision.

Utility and IPP Enel is the most active in the country, announcing 1.6GW under construction earlier this year, most of which is in Sicily.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 9th annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 21-22 February 2024. This year it is moving to a larger venue, bringing together Europe’s leading investors, policymakers, developers, utilities, energy buyers and service providers all in one place. Visit the official site for more info.

TrinaTracker Integrated Into 17 MW Solar Fishery Installation

A 17 MW solar fishery power plant with a tracking system provided by TrinaTracker, the smart solar tracking solutions unit of Trina Solar Co Ltd., has been connected to the grid in Jiangxi province, China.

The plant is equipped with Vanguard 2P solar trackers and the latest 210 mm large solar modules. Vanguard 2P is TrinaTracker’s mainstream product designed for utility solar projects used in complex terrains, such as deserts, agrivoltaics, fisheries and rugged soil.

The higher structure design allows sufficient sunshine to pass through the system so that the underside in farming and fishing is unaffected. In addition, the fewer piles-per-megawatt design greatly reduces installation difficulties and costs in harsh installation environments.

Longroad Energy Starts Construction on 377 MW Arizona Project

Longroad Energy’s Sun Streams 3 project

Longroad Energy, a U.S. based renewable energy developer, owner and operator, has closed financing and started construction on Sun Streams 4, a 377 MW DC PV and 1,200 MWh storage project.

Sun Streams 4 is Longroad’s largest solar and storage project to date and is the company’s third project in its Sun Streams complex, based in Maricopa County, Ariz. Commercial operations for Sun Streams 4 is currently expected by mid-2025.

During the construction period, Sun Streams 4 is expected to employ over 200 people. McCarthy Building Companies was selected as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor.

Sun Stream 4’s total output, enough to power 120,000 homes, will be purchased by Arizona Public Service (APS) via a long-term PPA. The project will help support system reliability in Arizona, particularly during the peak demand summer months.

“A landmark project for us, Sun Streams 4 has the distinction of being Longroad’s largest project to date by both megawatts and investment capital, and one of our first projects to incorporate provisions from the historic Inflation Reduction Act,” says Paul Gaynor, CEO of Longroad Energy.

The project is part of the Sun Streams portfolio that Longroad acquired from First Solar in early 2021.

Debt financing was led by CIBC and included ANZ, PNC, BNP Paribas, Commerzbank AG, CoBank, U.S. Bancorp Impact Finance, National Australia Bank and Société Générale.

Cypress Creek Renewables Sings On for Sitetracker Platform

Sarah Slusser

Cypress Creek Renewables says it will begin using Sitetracker’s software platform to add efficiency and visibility across the company’s operations, including its development, project execution and O&M teams.

“Sitetracker will help us standardize our processes, enhance data accuracy and coordinate workflows, while giving our teams the ability to track, manage and collaborate on complicated projects involving multiple teams, aiding our aligned mission to power a more sustainable future one project at a time,” says Sarah Slusser, CEO of Cypress Creek.

Cypress Creek Renewables is a leading renewables developer and independent power producer. It develops, finances, owns and operates utility-scale and distributed solar and energy storage projects across the United States. The company has developed 12 GW of solar projects and has a 28 GW solar and storage pipeline.

Solar Alternatives Finishes PV Array for Swire Energy Services

Mike Perera

Solar Alternatives, a provider of commercial solar solutions, has completed a 300 kW solar PV system for Swire Energy Services.

Solar Alternatives collaborated closely with Swire Energy Services to install the system across three buildings. The installation includes 792 Canadian Solar modules, each producing 400 W, and 198 Yotta microinverters. This optimized design maximizes efficiency and productivity, the companies say.

“At Swire Energy Services, we are committed to providing long-term sustainable value to our stakeholders, customers, and community. We aim to lead our industry in sustainable development and, by partnering with Solar Alternatives on this project, this is just one of many steps toward reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2030,” says Mike Perera, director of Swire Energy Services.

Plus Power ‘driving energy storage into mainstream’ with US$1.8 billion financing

In additional comments provided to Energy-Storage.news, Keefe said: “Our announcement shows battery energy storage now achieving scale and impact. We showed we are driving energy storage into the mainstream in the capital markets. Energy storage is growing at a 23% CAGR through 2030—that is 150% of tech.”

Plus Power has contracted inverter and BESS integrator Sungrow – the largest by deployments globally in 2022 – to provide the BESS technology for the Texas projects while EV giant Tesla will provide the BESS for the projects in Arizona, for which the offtaker is local utility Salt River Project (SRP).

“Basically, this announcement signals that our customers and grid operators are asking for us to move bigger and faster, because we are demonstrating how successfully standalone batteries are solving grid problems,” Keefe added.

Elaborating on the significance of, and learnings from the mega-financing, Keefe said the financial institutions provided the capital as they saw the projects’ durable, diversified returns and the technology’s pivotal role in enabling decarbonisation and the move to a more efficient grid.

Keefe: “This capital will support the ongoing buildout of the largest and most diverse portfolio of standalone storage projects in the US. To execute on this portfolio, Plus Power has built world-class EPC (engineering, procurement and construction), supply chain, and asset and risk management teams to deliver these grid services.  ”

“For most in the field, battery energy storage is new and complex. For a first mover like Plus Power, we are encountering and solving execution challenges first.  Our success in delivering and performing in Texas and the Southwest is paving the way for our future financings in other markets. ”

Plus Power last year secured 6.5GWh of BESS to serve its projects to 2025 making it “positioned well” to complete these projects, Keefe said, confirming what others have told Energy-Storage.news about the main bottleneck for BESS projects now being for other equipment such as transformers.

He also commented on a Project in Smyth County, Virginia, which Plus Power recently proposed, the 250MW/1,000MWh Laurel Creek Energy Storage project.

“The Laurel Creek Energy Storage project in Smyth County will perform as a merchant project. Its location is positioned at a critically-important substation for the AEP grid. Its 2029 completion will greatly support power reliability and contribute to Virginia’s goals of 3,100 MW of energy storage by 2032,” he said.

Energy-Storage.news covered trade body American Clean Power’s (ACP) report which has revealed large-scale BESS deployments in the US in 2023 had already exceeded the whole of 2022 by the end of September, earlier today. Arizona and Texas are leading the charge along with the largest market, California.

Our publisher Solar Media is hosting the 10th Solar and Storage Finance USA conference, 7-8 November 2023 at the New Yorker Hotel, New York. Topics ranging from the Inflation Reduction Act to optimising asset revenues, the financing landscape in 2023 and much more will be discussed. See the official site for more details.

SSE Renewables kicking off ‘largest under-construction BESS’ in UK at 640MWh

“It’s fantastic that we have taken a Final Investment Decision on the Monk Fryston BESS project, one of the largest battery storage projects in the UK,” said Richard Cave-Bigley, solar and battery director for SSE Renewables.

The project is the largest BESS in the UK to enter the construction stage that Energy-Storage.news is aware of, and a senior director at another UK developer agreed with this.

Larger projects, such as an 800MWh system from Innova and a 2,080MWh project from Carlton Power have secured planning permission so are free to start building, but neither has announced the start of construction with potential additional steps such as FiD still to be completed.

It is SEE Renewables’ third BESS project to reach the construction stage. Last month saw BESS units from system integrator Wärtsilä arrive on-site at the 50MW Salisbury project while construction started on the 150MW Ferrybridge project in August.

Energy-Storage.news has asked SSE Renewables to comment and will update this article when a response is received.

The UK energy storage market is among the most mature markets in the world along with select US states like California and Texas, with over 3GW of BESS online. Most projects being developed or built today have moved to 2-hour durations as ancillary service markets saturate requiring more energy-intensive activities to make up the shortfall due to falling ancillary service prices.

US large-scale BESS installations in 2023 already exceed whole of 2022

For the first three quarters of the 2023 combined a total of 4,500MW has come online, while last year saw around 4,000MW come online. By MWh capacity, this year has seen around 13,000MWh come online versus around 12,000MWh for the whole of 2022.

The Q3 data is comprised of 30 large-scale projects, of which 11 were standalone and 19 were co-located with wind or solar.

The largest of these was the first NextEra Energy Resources’ Desert Peak Project in California at 325MW/1,300MWh, while its 75MW second phase also came online during the third quarter.

Looking forward, the BESS development pipeline in the US – defined as under construction or in ‘advanced’ development – has grown by 50% year-on-year to around 21.5GW/62.1GWh, comprised of 262 projects. Some 9.3GW of this is in California with 3.2GW in Texas, and Arizona – which has seen a flurry of announcements recently – third with 2.5GW.

Q3 was the highest third quarter on record for installations across clean energy, ACP said.

For a in-depth look at the solar deployments seen during the quarter, see our sister site PV Tech‘s coverage of the ACP’s release here.

NHOA Energy reports 71% year-on-year increase in sales, 384% growth in online BESS capacity

From a total €194 million (US$205.7 million) revenues recorded across the group, just over €150 million came from NHOA Energy, according to NHOA’s latest trading and operational update. Company leadership said this puts NHOA in line to hit its financial targets of €250-280 million in revenue and EBITDA break-even for the year.

January to September 2022 yielded €95.7 million revenues across the group, and €165.7 million for the full year 2022, putting the current year’s growth at 103% year-on-year.

Energy storage sales rose 71%, from €88.4 million in Q1-Q3 2022, to €151.1 million in the equivalent period of 2023, including €50.3 million revenues in Q3 of this year.

The energy storage business has also grown under all other metrics reported by the company, although increases in backlog, 12-month order intake and pipeline were more modest than was seen in online capacity and projects under construction.

Online capacity has grown 384% from 111MWh at the end of Q3 2022 to 535MWh at the end of Q3 2023. Projects under construction went from 776MWh at the end of the first nine months of last year, to 1,145MWh, a 48% increase.

Meanwhile the capacity of the company’s pipeline grew 13% to 1,110MWh from 984MWh at the end of Q3 2022, backlog grew 5% from €152 million to €160 million, and 12-month order intake 9%, from €223 to €243 million.

A “more selective” pipeline

The relatively minor growth in pipeline was partly explained as a result of the company becoming “more and more selective” in its definition, according to Giuseppe Artizzu, head of NHOA Energy.

In an earnings call to explain results, Artizzu said that pipeline conversion rate is generally 25-30%, and once converted becomes revenue within about 18 months. While emphasising that he was not offering forward guidance, Artizzu said rough calculations of the pipeline’s value could be made by looking at backlog figures over six months and spreading up to 30% of that sum across the following 18 months.

NHOA did not break out EBITDA figures in its quarterly release, but group CEO Carlalberto Guglielminotti said the company was on track to “grow fast in an EBITDA-positive way”. The company has €433 million consolidated cash and credit lines available, after a €250 million capital raise earlier in the year in which majority shareholder Taiwan Cement Corporation (TCC) subscribed to over 75% of a rights issue.

The numbers mean NHOA is still perhaps in the category of emerging player in the space – Tesla, the first BESS provider to release Q3 results covered by this site shipped 4GWh of energy storage deployments in the three-month period alone – but Artizzu said the rapid growth over the past few months signified that NHOA Energy has “passed a test of fire” in getting to its half gigawatt-hour by the end of this year.

Recent projects by the company covered by Energy-Storage.news include a 39MWh system set to enter Italy’s capacity market via a contract with transmission operator Terna, a 31MWh project in Peru, pictured above, for NHOA’s former owner Engie and a 107MWh project in China for current owner TCC.

Waratah Super Battery developer to begin construction on 150MW/300MWh Queensland BESS project

Akaysha Energy said this week that following a Final Investment Decision (FiD) being made and key contractors appointed for its Ulinda Park project, construction at the site will begin next month.

The project is being built to support the rapid expansion of solar PV and wind generation capacity in the Western Downs region of Queensland, and got approval from local authorities last year. Representing a planned first phase of development, Akaysha Energy announced what it claimed was a “first of its kind” revenue swap deal for Ulinda Park with renewable energy revenue risk manager Re2 in July.

Swap deal to add revenue certainty

Re2 provides backing for power purchase agreements (PPAs), tolling agreements and other revenue hedging for renewables and storage. Under the terms of its 10-year risk hedging deal, Re2 provides contracted revenues to Akaysha Power, while the developer will be able to operate the battery energy storage system (BESS) and play into National Electricity Market (NEM) opportunities for frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) and energy trading.

“The revenue swap product that we have developed with Re2 is exactly the sort of innovative offtake product that we need in the market right now to help accelerate the build-out of large-scale battery projects like the Ulinda Park BESS,” Akaysha Energy CEO and president Nick Carter said at the time the deal was announced.

“The 10-year revenue swap provides the right balance of contracted and unhedged revenue, while still allowing us to operate the project and bid into the energy and FCAS markets in the NEM.”

Super Battery supplier Powin returns for Queensland project

Carter also noted on business networking site LinkedIn that the Queensland project was the first battery storage project worked on by the company, which emerged from stealth mode in 2022 with Blackrock pledging to invest AU$1 billion (US$640 million) into the developer.

Akaysha is developing the project in partnership with Brisbane-headquartered developer Renewable Energy Partners, which has a claimed development portfolio that includes more than 3GW of renewables and over 24GWh of energy storage, including pumped hydro.

BESS supplier will be US manufacturer and system integrator Powin Energy. Powin entered a partnership with Akaysha last year to deploy more than 1.7GWh of systems over a two-year period. That deal was Powin’s first entry into the Australian market and was cemented with the announcement of the Waratah Super Battery, now under construction.

One interesting thing to note is that Powin leadership told Energy-Storage.news last year as the integrator bought Spanish inverter and power conversion system (PCS) Eks Energy that its acquisition was largely motivated by Eks’ experience in working on projects in weak grid or grid edge locations, and knowledge of adapting projects to different grid codes.

This was with particular regard to meet Australia’s stringent grid codes ahead of the Waratah Super Battery project getting underway, Powin executive VP Danny Lu told the site. Powin has just sold Eks Energy on to Hitachi Energy, although the US integrator is said to be retaining a significant stake in the PCS maker and will partner with Hitachi Energy on developing integrated BESS solutions.

Akaysha CEO Nick Carter said that a balance of plant (BOP) contract has just been signed for Ulinda Park Phase 1 with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partners Consolidated Power Projects. Wilson Transformer Company will provide high voltage and medium voltage works, while it will connect to existing transmission lines managed by network operator Powerlink.

“The Waratah Super Battery gets a lot of the attention/headlines, but the unsung heroes of the Akaysha Energy battery portfolio will become Ulinda Park BESS and the other large battery developments that are rapidly marching towards FiD across the NEM, accelerating the energy transition…” Carter wrote on LinkedIn, perhaps in reference to the fact that while the Super Battery’s business case will be underpinned by a 700MW/1,400MWh system integrity protection scheme (SIPS) contract to help maintain reliable operation of the grid, those other BESS resources will operate as more merchant assets.

“Onwards we charge…..”

Both Ulinda Park in Queensland and Waratah Super Battery in NSW are scheduled to go into commercial operation in 2025.

In September, Akaysha Energy entered a partnership with Japanese conglomerate Itochu Corporation to work together on large-scale BESS projects in Japan, as well as in overseas territories including Australia, although the partnership was not explicitly referred to in updates this week from the developer.

Elsewhere, Blackrock acquired US energy storage developer Jupiter Power in late 2022.