Thomas Houle

Leyline Renewable Capital, a provider of early-stage capital for renewable energy developers, will supply $30 million in financing for Accelergen Energy LLC to develop a multi-gigawatt pipeline of utility-scale solar and storage projects across multiple U.S. markets over the next four years.

Accelergen was founded by renewable energy veterans Thomas Houle and Josh Skogen. Houle has an extensive background in renewable energy development, project and platform investing and management and will serve as the company’s CEO. Skogen will serve as senior vice president of development and will play a key role in corporate strategy, project development and execution.

“Leyline Renewable Capital is well-known in our industry as a premier development lender,” says Houle. “The team worked closely with us to understand our specific needs and business goals. This infusion will strengthen our capital structure, which will accelerate our efforts as we launch the company and work to expand the team while executing upon our strategic plan.”

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It will be built in southwestern Ontario, on land belonging to the Six Nations of the Grand River, a First Nation community which is also in the partnership to develop and deliver the project along with developer NRSTor (which is in a joint venture with the Six Nations of the Grand River for it) and EPC contractor Aecon.

The Oneida asset has a contracted long-term revenue agreement in place with Ontario’s electricity system operator and manager, the Ontario IESO, called an Energy Storage Facility Agreement. This gives the IESO the rights to charge the BESS with surplus energy from the grid at off-peak times, including renewables, and output it during peak periods.

In a statement, Northland Power said it expected 60% of the Oneida project’s revenues to come from that 20-year agreement, with the balance to come from wholesale market participation, including some ancillary services.

The IPP has hedged its risk against the recently fluctuating price of lithium, with contracts and revenues indexed against the key raw material’s cost, and expected to be fixed by the time batteries for the system would be manufactured, at the end of this year.

Northland claimed that once the BESS is operational by the end of 2025, the company’s stake in it will represent between CA$40 million (US$29.64 million) to CA$45 million adjusted annual EBITDA or CA$15 million to CA$20 million annual free cash flow.

Total capital cost of the project was given as CA$800 million. It also got some backing from the Canadian government organisation Natural Resources Canada, and the Smart Renewables and Electrification Pathways programme that the government recently committed to refinancing in its national budget – at which it announced plans to introduce a US-style tax credit incentive programme for clean energy investment.

Jason Rioux, chief development officer at NRStor, told Energy-Storage.news that discussions with the IESO over contracting services for the project had been ongoing for around five years before signings earlier this year.

One of Canada’s energy storage pioneers, NRSTor has over the past decade brokered numerous IESO deals in the province, many of them representing “first-of-a-kind” projects for Ontario, such as for its first commercially operating flywheel and advanced compressed air energy storage (A-CAES) assets.

Oneida went through a special gating process due to its significance to the province’s energy security of supply. The nature of those involved discussions with the IESO, Rioux said, laid “a lot of the foundation for understanding how to bring on large scale energy storage in the province of Ontario”.

A lot of that is to do with the “trials and tribulations” of getting a large-scale project financed and online with a mix of contracted and merchant revenues, while “doing this in a way that puts appropriate risk on developers and owners of the projects and delivers the best value possible to the ratepayers in Ontario, [and] electricity consumers in Ontario,” the NRSTor CDO said.

Milestone developments for Canada’s ESS market scale-up

The news comes in the same week that the IESO announced the selection of seven BESS projects totalling 739MW as the first tranche of awards in a procurement of up to 2,500MW of battery assets and about 1,500MW of natural gas generation capacity.

Representing Canada’s biggest-ever energy storage procurement, carried out to help Ontario deal with rapid load growth expected in the second half of the 2020s, the winners already revealed include a 300MW/1,200MWh project by developer Boralex.

That would already mean Oneida goes into second place for Ontario – and Canada’s – biggest BESS project to date when Boralex’s Hagersville Energy Storage Park project goes online.

Another interesting takeaway from yesterday’s procurement awards is that five out of the seven winning projects have direct indigenous community involvement, as does Oneida.

For NRSTor, indigenous participation and partnership models are a “very important aspect” of the company’s projects, Jason Rioux said.

“The Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation was a founding developing partner with us of the Oneida project. So we worked hand-in-hand with Six Nations of the Grand River over a five-year period, jointly developing every aspect of the Oneida project negotiating every agreement, in particular the offtake agreement with the ISO together.”

For Northland Power meanwhile, Oneida is its first energy storage project to date for the multinational power producer. The financing deal just closed includes debt financing from an undisclosed lender, as well as about 75% of construction costs coming from non-recourse project finance, and Northland’s equity stake to be funded by existing cash on hand and available liquidity through a revolving credit facility.

Northland just released its Q1 2023 financial results, in which it revealed gross profit in the quarter of CA$569 million, versus CA$636 million in Q1 2022. The company said it planned to seek out other opportunities in energy storage in Ontario and other markets, noting that the scale and importance of Oneida would instantly catapult Northland to the position of major player in the Canadian BESS market.

Canada’s energy storage market is the focus of a feature article in the forthcoming Q2 2023 edition of our quarterly journal, PV Tech Power (Vol.35), to be published in the coming days.

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Through the JV, the firms will set up a facility producing lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries at Energy’s existing facility in Sant’Angelo di Piove di Sacco, set to be operational by the end of 2023.

After that, the two will then build a gigafactory at the same site which will have an eventual production capacity of between 1,095MWh and 1,460MWh annually (based on producing 600-800 batteries a day totalling 3-4MWh of capacity).

However, Energy’s media statement indicated that, at least at first, the capacity would be going towards its own energy storage products, which it deploys across the residential, commercial and grid-scale segments.

“The transaction will position Energy as the only Italian company to manufacture the energy storage system and storage batteries in-house,” it said.

Jinpeng “Geoffrey” Song, Vice President of Pylontech’s international business, adds: “It is an important step for Pylontech to start localised production, as our partners, especially in Europe, are eager to have a more secure and stable supply chain.”

As Energy-Storage.news has written recently, the Italian grid-scale market looks set to take off in the next few years after being virtually non-existent until now. The commercial and industrial (C&I) sector is also relatively small.

However, the residential market has boomed – second-only to Germany by annual deployments – thanks to the inclusion of a energy storage as an eligible technology in a 110% tax credit for energy efficiency renovation, dubbed the ‘superbonus’.

Pylontech produces both lithium-ion battery cells and BESS units and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange two years ago, when it announced it would have 4GWh of BESS production capacity by 2024.

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The project will act as a ‘shock absorber’ for the grid when there are disruptions in supply while also helping to integrate more renewable energy into the energy mix, with a targeted completion date in 2025.

The Oregon-headquartered system integrator started work on the BESS project for Blackrock-owned developer Akaysha Power in November last year. Its size has changed, or at least been reported differently, several times since being announced, from 700MW/1,400MWh when first revealed by the New South Wales (NWS) government to 909MW/1,915MWh when Powin started work on it.

It has been described as the biggest BESS in the world, sometimes specifically the largest ‘single phase’ BESS, alluding to the fact that ultimately larger projects like Moss Landing and Edwards Sanborn, both in California, are coming online in multiple phases.

“Unlike a conventional platform provider, Powin is unique in a way that they are vertically integrated from module packaging to final product which makes them as a leading pioneer in the market. We are excited to collaborate with Powin and leverage our engineering expertise with mass production capability to create ‘Safe, Reliable and Built to Last’ ESS solutions together,“ said Danny You, Chief Executive Officer at ACE.

Indeed, president Anthony Carroll recently told Energy-Storage.news in an interview that he wants Powin to be the “only company that our customers interact with” to make the process as seamless as possible, and had plans to expand into other ancillary parts of BESS project delivery.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 1st Energy Storage Summit Asia, 11-12 July 2023 in Singapore. The event will help give clarity on this nascent, yet quickly growing market, bringing together a community of credible independent generators, policymakers, banks, funds, off-takers and technology providers. For more information, go to the website.

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It is the pair’s second such agreement after the 487MWh order for the Cald project in California, bringing the total co-operation to-date to 850MWh.

The MW power of neither project has been disclosed, but California projects are generally four-hour systems while new ones in Texas are most commonly two-hour systems.

Moe Hajabed, CEO of Aypa Power which private equity firm Blackstone bought and re-branded in 2020, commented: “We’re excited to expand our partnership with CSI Energy Storage. This supply agreement is a crucial step in our efforts to bring reliable and sustainable energy to California and Texas.”

“With our project development and operations expertise combined with Canadian Solar’s leading-edge technology, we can meet the growing demand for energy storage in the US. Together, we’ll drive innovation and accelerate the transition to a cleaner, more resilient grid.”

As Energy-Storage.news recently reported, Canadian Solar expects a flat 2023 in terms of energy storage deployment growth. It attributed this to a transition away from a white-labelled grid-scale offering towards SolBank, its proprietary product, as well as long lead times in the market.

“Next year will be the real growth. This year is a transition,” CSI Solar president Yan Zhuang said in a recent earnings call, made possible by an expansion to 10GWh of annual production capacity of SolBank.

The Texas market is set to see energy storage deployments soar this year, with around 8GW coming online, leading some to talk of saturation of ancillary service markets by Spring 2024.

For coverage of Canadian Solar’s latest financial results, you can visit sister site PV Tech.

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Lorena Ciciriello

EE North America, a subsidiary of European Energy, has agreed to sell a 350 MW utility-scale solar project in Texas to Osaka Gas USA Corporation (OGUSA). The project is expected to be operational in 2025.

This transaction emphasizes EE North America’s goal to lead the global transition to green energy by delivering fully integrated, commercially mature and financially viable clean energy systems that facilitate decarbonization across a variety of industries.

Lorena Ciciriello, CEO of EE North America, underscored the importance of the agreement with OGUSA: “Selling this project to OGUSA is part of our long-term strategy for growth; and we will continue to leverage our partnerships, share our expertise and be a leading global force in promoting the green transition.”

OGUSA, which has been co-developing and operating utility-scale and distributed generation solar power plants with several U.S. power generation and renewable energy developers, has grown its renewable business pillar in the utility-scale and distributed generation market through joint ventures with multiple developers. Outside of these partnerships, OGUSA will continue to acquire mid-stage power assets throughout the U.S. as it grows its asset management business.

“We’re pleased to take over the development of this project from EE North America,” says Sunao Okamoto, president and CEO of OGUSA. “We hope to expand this long-standing relationship through future collaboration and contribute to the decarbonization of the U.S. power grid.”

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Justin Lee

Qcells, a manufacturer of photovoltaic cells, is investing $100 million to accelerate the commercialization of perovskite-based tandem cells – a next-generation solar cell technology designed to boost solar panel efficiency.

Qcells’ parent company, Hanwha Solutions, says it will build a pilot tandem-cell production line at its Jincheon factory in South Korea. The facility is expected to be operational by late 2024 and aims to commercialize tandem cells by 2026.

To support this target, the pilot facility in Jincheon will work closely with Qcells’ headquarters for technology and innovation in Thalheim, Germany. Qcells is already operating an R&D pilot line for tandem cells at Thalheim and participating in a four-year research project called PEPPERONI to develop a pathway for commercializing tandem cell development in Europe.

“This investment in Jincheon will mark an important step in securing technological leadership,” says Justin Lee, Qcells CEO. “With a global R&D network spanning from Korea, Germany and the US, Qcells will ramp up its efforts to produce high-efficiency advanced tandem cells.”

The investment will pave the way for Qcells to mass-produce perovskite tandem cells, which have a much higher efficiency rate than silicon-based solar cells that utilize TOPCon (Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact) or heterojunction technology.

Earlier this year, in collaboration with Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin, Qcells succeeded in developing a tandem cell with up to 29.3% efficiency rate. The result was verified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, a renewable energy research institute run by the U.S. Department of Energy.

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Barrett Bilotta

Agilitas Energy, the largest integrated developer, builder, owner and operator of distributed energy storage and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the northeastern U.S., has entered into a strategic development partnership with Oak Square Partners, a full-service renewable energy developer specializing in solar PV and battery storage projects in New England.

The companies will work together to accelerate the development of renewable energy and energy storage projects, ensuring an efficient process from inception through construction. As part of the partnership, Oak Square will identify, acquire and lead the development of certain energy projects that Agilitas will acquire when they are ready for construction.

Agilitas will provide engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) expertise and will serve as a buyer for Oak Square’s qualified pipeline with a simplified transaction process. Leveraging both companies’ deep experience across the entire value chain will allow projects to accomplish maximum yield at competitive costs upon interconnection to the grid.

“Agilitas Energy seeks to build long-term relationships with high-quality developers,” says Barrett Bilotta, president, CEO and co-founder. “We’re formalizing our relationship so that, together, we can build a more targeted and consistent pipeline of renewable energy and energy storage projects that meet Agilitas Energy’s standards.”

The two companies anticipate collaborating on a variety of distributed generation systems, including solar PV, energy storage and hybrid projects, primarily in Mass., R.I. and N.H. Agilitas Energy plans to initially acquire in excess of 20 MW, with an aggressive plan to develop and acquire a greater volume as part of the multi-year partnership.

Agilitas Energy will continue to originate new projects independently, as well – both in New England and nationally. 

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Jan Peter Moree

Generac Grid Services, a subsidiary of Generac Power Systems, a designer and manufacturer of energy technology solutions and other power products, introduced its Concerto platform, which now enables Iberdrola to provide Active Demand Response Services (SRAD) in Spain.

Using the Concerto platform, Iberdrola has built a virtual power plant (VPP) that has successfully transitioned its provision of SRAD services, which began late last year, into an automated dispatch service.

Iberdrola selected Generac Grid Services to be its VPP software provider via tender in late 2021. Since then the companies have been working together to aggregate solar generation and load from commercial and industrial facilities as well as smart homes across Spain to support stabilizing grid frequency for Spanish transmission system operator, Red Eléctrica de España.

“The Concerto platform’s open ecosystem enables us to connect to and dispatch assets that leverage distinct communication interfaces,” says Rafael Bellido, head of flexibility solutions at Iberdrola. “This helps Iberdrola generate value from a greater number of participating systems, therefore benefiting our customers while helping to keep the Spanish grid more reliable.”

Jan Peter Moree, vice president of business development for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Generac Grid Services, adds: “Together, Generac Grid Services and Iberdrola are demonstrating the value of forecasting and optimizing renewable generation solutions.”

Iberdrola and Generac Grid Services are actively exploring ways to expand their collaboration. Together, the companies are looking to grow the number and type of distributed energy resources capable of providing flexible capacity and are specifically looking to incorporate electric vehicles (EVs) and industrial loads into their portfolio. In addition, the companies are actively planning to bid this growing flexibility into markets beyond SRAD, with manual Frequency Restoration Reserves (mFRR) expected to go live later this year.

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While Ontario doesn’t have a shortfall of electricity today, with the population set to continue growing and electrification of key industries and transport also an ongoing trend, after 2025 the need for new resources will become acute.

The Ontario Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) manages power networks in real-time and is responsible for planning for future electricity needs. Through Canada’s biggest-ever procurement, the IESO said yesterday that seven battery energy storage system (BESS) projects have been awarded contracts, ranging from 5MW to 300MW per site.

In addition to that 739MW of BESS, contracts were awarded to 589MW of existing gas-fired generation facilities, which the IESO said would be essential to help maintain electric system reliability as Ontario’s electricity demand and its share of variable renewable energy generation grow simultaneously.

The primary function of procured assets will be in contributing to resource adequacy, Patrick Bateman, an independent consultant who works closely with trade association Energy Storage Canada told Energy-Storage.news in a recent interview.

Nuclear power station retirements and refurbishments will take some of that existing capacity offline, while steel and aluminium plants in the province are switching over to electric arc furnaces, and electrification of other sectors like commercial buildings and transport mean a great deal of projected load growth in the years to come.

Meanwhile, the BESS assets will in addition to providing firm dispatchable capacity to the IESO network also be able to participate in some ancillary services to add extra revenue streams, Bateman said.

It will represent a big jump in installed BESS capacity for the province, and for Canada. While more than 90% of proposed battery storage additions at grid-scale in the country will be in Ontario and Alberta, according to Patrick Bateman, and both provinces are current leaders in storage adoption in Canada, at present Ontario has around 225MW of behind-the-meter large-scale commercial and industrial (C&I) batteries and around the same amount of front-of-the-meter storage – mostly in the form of pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) and pilot projects using various technologies.

The IESO said that it expects there will be at least 1,217MW of storage capacity on its networks, as well as smaller storage facilities at distribution level or at C&I facilities by the time awarded projects come online by the end of 2025.

As well as there being more to come in the next rounds of the procurement, the IESO recently awarded key contracts for the 250MW/1,000MWh Oneida energy storage project which is being developed by a consortium including developer NRSTor, independent power producer (IPP) Northland Power and selected technology provider Tesla.

Winners include 4-hour duration BESS projects

Winners of the procurement with BESS bids include Boralex, a Toronto Stock Exchange-listed renewable energy developer, with two projects: Hagersville Battery Energy Storage Park, a 300MW, 4-hour duration (1,200MWh) project in Ontario’s Haldimand County and Tilbury Battery Storage Project, which will be a 80MW/320MWh system in the Municipality of Lakeshore.

Power producer Capital Power was among the other winners, with one 114MW battery storage bid and an expansion of one of its natural gas-fired facilities that will provide the IESO with 80MW in summer and 100MW in winter.

Winners are expected to sign finalised long-term contracts with the IESO by mid-June. The IESO said more contracts could be announced by summer, but it also expects to launch another energy storage supply procurement later this year.

The leading example of Alberta and Ontario is a topic covered in the forthcoming next edition of our quarterly journal, PV Tech Power (Vol.35), due out in the coming days. Subscription to PV Tech Power is included as part of the Energy-Storage.news Premium package.

More to follow…

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