The huge Edwards Sanborn solar-plus-storage project, 676MWh of which has been procured by PG&E. However, it is not one of those whose terms have been re-negotiated in this procedure. Image: Terra-Gen / CPA.

Cost inflation and supply chain issues have forced California utility PG&E to increase the prices it will pay for 2GWh of battery storage projects, in a move which has been approved by regulators.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) approved investor-owned utility PG&E’s request to amend four of its Mid-Term Reliability Contracts for battery storage last week (1 December).

The standalone battery storage projects, which were were approved earlier this year, were contracted for by the utility in response to a CPUC order to California’s utilities to procure 11.5GW of new clean energy resources.

Specifically, the (confidential) contract prices for all will now be increased, three have been delayed and one has been halved in size. See a table of the four which have been modified further down with the old values in parentheses (and a full table in our coverage of all nine projects’ approval in April).

Beaumont, Canyon County and Inland Empire projects have been delayed to June 2024 while Inland has also been halved in size. The four projects total 530MW/2,120MWh (versus 580MW/2,320MWh before).

Explaining the move, PG&E said that after the contracts were executed developers brought “concerns regarding unprecedented changed market conditions which render the projects uneconomical”, the CPUC filing read.

Specifically, they cited significant increases in battery prices due to commodity price inflation, supply chain constraints, increased balance of system costs because of wider inflation and the increasing cost of capital due to the Federal Reserve raising rates.

Project nameDeveloper/OwnerOutput/CapacityLocationOnline dateBeaumont Energy StorageTerra-Gen100MW/400MWhBeaumont, Riverside CountyJune 2024 (August 2023)Canyon Country Energy StorageTerra-Gen80MW/320MWhSanta Clarita, LA CountyJune 2024 (October 2023)Inland Empire Energy StorageStrata Clean Energy50MW/200MWh (100MW/400MWh)Rialto, San Bernadino CountyJune 2024 (April 2024)Nighthawk Storage Tenaska300MW/1,200MWhPoway, San Diego CountyJune 2024

PG&E stated in the CPUC filing that it has negotiated aggressively with the counterparties with respect to the price increases. What’s more, the price adjustments agreed on reflect the effects of the investment tax credit (ITC) for standalone energy storage contained within the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act.

PG&E expects its nine projects totalling 1.6GW/6.4GWh to be fully operational by 2024. Although the CPUC docket filing did not specify the new MWh capacity of the adjusted Inland project, all large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects being procured by utilities in California are four-hour systems.

This is in order to qualify for Resource Adequacy, the California Independent System Operator’s (CAISO’s) means of ensuring there is enough supply to meet demand (without centralised capacity auctions).

The other five projects in PG&E’s Mid-Term Reliability which have not been amended in this procedure include a portion of the Edwards Sanborn solar-plus-storage project, which looks set to be among the biggest battery storage facilities in the world, also being developed by Terra-Gen.

Also being procured is part of the extension to Moss Landing, the world’s current largest BESS, two projects by NextEra Energy (one of the world’s largest energy storage system integrators) and a facility being built by developer Origis Energy.

California now has 4,471MW of battery energy storage online as of 31 October, 2022, according to CAISO’s website.

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KOMIPO America Inc., which is a U.S. subsidiary of Korea Midland Power Co. Ltd. (KOMIPO), a power generation companies in Korea, has completed construction of 160 MW Concho Valley Solar photovoltaic power project in San Angelo City in Texas and had started its commercial operations since October.

The Concho Valley Solar with 160 MW capacity, the second utility scale solar asset of KOMIPO America in Texas, had signed the financing agreements on February 2022. RBC Community Investments arranged tax equity. Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale and Rabobank are providing the construction loans and a separate back-leveraged facility that will support the project during operations.

“Concho Valley Solar is the most remarkable and meaningful project in the U.S. for KOMIPO since it had jointly developed with trustworthy partnership with the local developer, Merit SI and strong support from the local communities,” states Hotae Lee, executive managing director of KOMIPO. “We are very happy to successfully finalize this project with having a dominant role for financing arrangements and timely implement construction despite the global pandemic and supply chain issues.”

“RBC’s syndication of the Concho Valley Solar tax equity demonstrates our unwavering commitment to clean energy and driving ESG imperatives,” comments Yonette Chung McLean, Royal Bank of Canada’s managing director. “We are excited to partner with KOMIPO on this project and look forward to continued growth and development in the U.S.”

CCA Capital, LLC served as the financial advisor to KOMIPO, providing support across capital formation and structuring. White & Case LLP advised KOMIPO from the early stages of Concho Valley Solar and has provided legal guidance on the development, tax equity financing and construction financing of the project.

Image: Mariana Proença on Unsplash

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Coal power plant with adjacent mine in Australia. Apparently less of an eyesore than wind, solar or batteries, to some people. Image: Wikimedia user Stephen Edmonds.

The last remaining coal-fired power station in the US state of New Jersey has been demolished, with the facility’s owner committing to deploying large-scale energy storage at the site.

On 2 December, a crowd including climate and clean energy advocates gathered to watch the controlled implosion of Logan Generating Station in Swedesboro, in New Jersey’s south.

The 242MW power plant was brought down with the push of a ceremonial button by Joseph Fiordaliso, board president of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), bringing to an end a service lifetime that began in 1994.

Logan Generating Station is owned by energy and infrastructure investment group Starwood Energy. Starwood has been selling power from the plant, along with the output of another coal power plant, Chambers Cogeneration Plant, to New Jersey utility Atlantic City Energy under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).

However, after deciding to shutter the state’s final two coal power plants, Starwood had requested approval to end the PPAs early from the regulatory BPU. That permission was granted in March this year. Starwood agreed to use the sites to host clean energy projects, and Atlantic City Electric customers will be refunded the PPA costs.

Atlantic City Energy said that ending the agreements early would save the utility US$30 million, while according to Starwood’s CEO Himanshu Saxena the “early and permanent retirement” of the Logan plant has been one of New Jersey’s single largest measures to reduce CO2 emissions so far. Chambers has already closed but is yet to be demolished.

BPU president Fiordaliso said the Logan plant’s demolition marked a “historic milestone” for the state and “a massive step in the right direction that will pave the way for New Jersey’s clean energy future”.  

Starwood Energy has said that in addition to building large-scale battery storage systems at the Logan and Chambers sites, the company intends to use the power plants’ existing rights of interconnection to allow new offshore wind energy projects to connect to the power grid.

Further details of projects have not been disclosed, but the siting of large-scale battery storage systems at legacy power plants is a growing phenomenon around the world. Former or existing power plant sites offer valuable land and infrastructure, especially connection points to the grid, with projects in development or already built at such locations in California, New York and Australia as reported by this site.

For example, New York’s biggest thermal power plant, the 2,480MW Ravenswood Generating Station in Queens, is going to become a 27-acre renewable energy hub incorporating battery storage, while in June, Boston-headquartered equity investment group ArcLight said that legacy thermal power sites make “excellent potential locations” for battery storage as it plans makeovers at sites it owns in three US states.

“Working with numerous stakeholders, we developed a win-win plan that created an early and permanent retirement of the Logan plant and resulted in one of the State’s single largest CO2 reduction measures,” Starwood CEO Himanshu Saxena said.

“And now, in accordance with New Jersey’s Legislative Mandate to implement urgently needed energy storage for grid security and to accommodate and maximise the benefit of the huge influx of incoming renewable energy including from offshore wind, our company will work with Energy Management, Inc. to transform this site into one of the largest energy storage projects anywhere on the East coast.”

New Jersey actually has one of the most aggressive policy targets in place for energy storage, with state legislature calling for 2,000MW of deployments by 2030 as it targets a zero-emissions energy sector by 2050. However, as things stand, the installed base is currently at around just 500MW, and most of that represented by a single pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant.

As reported by Energy-Storage.news in October, the BPU has proposed a number of different policies that could accelerate deployment. Front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter energy storage connected to distribution networks could be incentivised in a number of ways that are being considered.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the 5th Energy Storage Summit USA, 28-29 March 2023 in Austin, Texas. Featuring a packed programme of panels, presentations and fireside chats from industry leaders focusing on accelerating the market for energy storage across the country. For more information, go to the website.

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Longroad Energy, a U.S.-based renewable energy developer, owner, and operator, has closed on the acquisition of the 98 MW DC Titan Solar project from Sunpin Holdings LLC. Titan is an operating project located in Imperial County, Calif., which produces enough energy for over 30,000 customers in Southern California.

Simultaneous with the closing, Great Bay Renewables made a royalty investment in Titan to finance the acquisition.

Located in the Imperial Irrigation District (IID) territory, Titan sells power into the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) via firm transmission from IID. It reached commercial operations in December 2020.

“Titan is an attractive project as it allows Longroad to expand our footprint in the important CAISO market, while offering an opportunity to optimize value with our operations and development expertise,” says Charles Spiliotis, Longroad Energy’s chief investment officer. “It is the first acquisition since closing our $500 million equity investment, demonstrating Longroad’s objective of rapidly growing our operating portfolio. We are also pleased to partner again with Great Bay Renewables on this acquisition.”

The addition of Titan expands Longroad’s total of operating solar projects in California to approximately 340 MW DC.

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Project stakeholders attending the launch ceremony for the project. Image: Acciona Energia.

Renewable energy firm Acciona Energia has launched a 16-chargepoint vehicle-to-grid (V2G) network in the Balearic Islands, the first in Spain.

The network of bi-directional chargepoints will allow the electricity stored in EV batteries to be used for either self-consumption (vehicle-to-load or V2L) or injection back into the grid (V2G).

The demonstrator project is being launched on the Balearic Islands, a Spanish overseas region comprised of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza, and Formentera.

It is being led by Acciona Energia along with eight other companies who will together install the chargepoints. Acciona will provide the companies with eight V2G-enabled EVs.

The project appears to be initially launching on the island of Mallorca, the largest of the four. The launching ceremony (pictured) was attended by the Mayor of Manacor, a town on the island, while a press release said two unnamed companies would join a ‘second imminent phase’ which would expand the network to the islands of Menorca and Ibiza.

The first phase companies are Pavimentos Lloseta, Cárnicas Súñer, Droperba, Asociación Estel de Llevant, Hotel La Reserva Rotana and Hermanas Buades.

One of the main challenges when applying V2G technology in the consumer vehicle space is ensuring that users have plugged in their EVs for when discharge is required, so it appears the project is using commercial vehicles or agreements as a way to get around this.

Acciona claimed the project is the first implementation of V2G technology on an industrial scale in Spain. The firm will operate and supervise the flow of electricity and analyse the performance of the V2G processes. It will also test and validate grid service and peak demand management services, it said.

Juan Pedro Yllanes, Vice-President of the Balearic Islands Government, said that mobility is the main energy consumer and main source of CO2 emissions, adding:

“The energy transition is not only about implementing renewables to replace a polluting energy source with a clean one. The energy transition needs to go beyond that and involve major changes in the way we consume energy, and that implies addressing mobility. This project, if implemented on a large scale, would allow us to make a major quantitative and qualitative progress in the decarbonisation of our energy model.”

The next edition of PV Tech Power, Energy-Storage.news’ sister site PV Tech‘s quarterly journal, will include a feature looking at other V2G projects which get around the challenge for V2G of ensuring consumers plug in their EVs.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the eighth annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 22-23 February 2023. 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.

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Inauguration for HiNA Battery Technology and Three Gorges Corporation’s sodium-ion production facility. Image: China Three Gorges Corporation.

United Airlines has become an investor in Natron Energy, a US-based manufacturer of sodium-ion chemistry batteries, as the world’s first sodium-ion gigafactory is opened in China.

Sodium-ion is considered a potential alternative or complementary technology to lithium-ion, particularly for applications that don’t require as high energy density, which could include shorter range electric vehicles (EVs) and stationary battery energy storage systems (BESS).

With the world’s biggest lithium battery maker CATL among those putting time and money into developing and commercialising the technology, manufacturers are in a race to see who can overcome the limitations of sodium-ion and capture market share.

Research analyst Max Reid at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables recently told this site that it already expects between 5GWh and 10GWh of sodium-ion battery production capacity to come online by 2025.

Materials for making sodium-ion batteries appear to be abundant and non-flammable and operate well in colder temperatures. However, the problem to date has been that sodium-ion batteries can’t be cycled as aggressively or frequently as lithium-ion, which academics and industry have been looking to solve.

United Airlines (UA) said last week that it has made a strategic equity investment in Natron Energy, with a view to using the battery technologies to electrify its ground operations. UA has more than 12,000 pieces of motorised ground equipment, including tractors and gate operations, and only about a third of that fleet today is electrified.

California-based Natron claims to be the only company in the market shipping UL-listed sodium-ion battery products. The company said it has overcome the problem of cycling with a “breakthrough” electrode material that allows full charge and discharge in minutes for many thousands of cycles.

In October, manufacturing firm Arxada signed a long-term supply deal with Natron for battery grade Prussian blue dye, one of the key ingredients of its electrodes. Natron aims to open a manufacturing facility in 2023 with up to 600MW annual production capacity in Michigan.

The airline made its investment through United Airlines Ventures, which was set up to invest in innovative and emissions-reducing technology companies. While its other investments to date have been focused on efforts to power low-carbon aviation, the equity investment in Natron is its first to identify opportunities to electrify and decarbonise ground operations.

“Out of the gate, we primarily focused on technology designed to help reduce carbon emissions from our airplanes,” United Airlines Ventures president Michael Leskinen said.

“Natron’s cutting-edge sodium-ion batteries presented an ideal opportunity to both potentially expand our sustainability investment portfolio to our ground operations, and to help make our airport operations more resilient.”

Natron Energy CEO Colin Wessels said the batteries could “provide the high power over short distances that ground service equipment needs,” while being non-flammable and safe to deploy for ground ops.

The undisclosed investment would be used towards expanding Natron’s Michigan facilities ahead of the start of mass production, Natron said.

Gigawatt-hour sodium-ion production line opens in China

Chinese state-owned power company China Three Gorges Corporation said that in late November, the first gigawatt-hour sodium-ion production line in the world opened for business.

A launch ceremony was held in Fuyang City in China’s Anhui Province on 29 November for the factory, built in cooperation between the Three Gorges Corporation’s Three Gorges Energy and Three Gorges Capital, together with local authorities and battery manufacturer HiNa Battery Technology.

Three Gorges called the opening of the first ‘gigafactory’ a milestone in the industrial development of sodium-ion batteries.

It came together in a short timeframe, from agreements to build the facility being signed a year ago in December 2021.

Elsewhere, AMTE, a UK-based manufacturer, has claimed that it could have commercial sodium-ion batteries rolling off production lines to customers within months, while in India, a subsidiary of major holding company Reliance Industries has acquired another UK-based sodium-ion tech firm, Faradion.

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An aerial view of the two-hour energy storage system in Wallonia, Belgium. Image: CORSICA SOLE.

A 50MW/100MWh battery energy storage system, the largest in continental Europe, has been inaugurated in Belgium by developer Corsica Sole.

The system in the French-speaking region of Wallonia came online last week (1 December), and is the first of three 100MWh projects in Belgium that have been slated to come online before the end of the year (more details further down).

The project’s development was led by Corsica Sole, while developers Yuso and InnoVent were project partners. EV and energy storage firm Tesla provided its MegaPack utility-scale battery storage product for the system (pictured), which is in the district of Deux-Acren.

The system will help to ensure the stability of frequency in the European electricity network. The main way battery systems do this is through participating in Frequency Control Reserve (FCR), which will be gradually replaced by a pan-European service called automatic frequency restoration reserve (aFRR).

As well as helping to regulate the frequency of the grid, the system will mitigate the intermittency of renewable energy sources by providing load shifting services.

Developer Yuso, one of the project partners in the Wallonia project, is also leading the development of another 100MWh system in Belgium. That four-hour system (25MW power) is set to come online before the end of the year, while another 25MW/100MWh system from commodities trading company Trafigura in the municipality of Balen was also slated to come online in 2022.

Corsica Sole said the project totalled €33 million (US$34.7 million) of investment.

“This project is an important step for the development of electricity storage solutions in Europe,” said Michael Coudyser, managing director of Corsica Sole.

“We financed this project with our shareholder Mirova Energy Transition 5 without having recourse to any public subsidy. By demonstrating that the large-scale deployment of batteries is economically viable, we provide proof that we can build a world based on renewable energy coupled with energy storage.”

The Paris-headquartered firm has previously completed storage systems on the Mediterranean island of Corsica, an overseas territory of France, as previously reported by Energy-Storage.news. Asset manager Mirova acquired a stake in the firm in April 2021.

Energy-Storage.news’ publisher Solar Media will host the eighth annual Energy Storage Summit EU in London, 22-23 February 2023. 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.

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Hunter Armistead

Pattern Energy Group LP has hired Hunter Armistead as CEO of the company, in succession to Michael Garland. Armistead is presently the company’s chief development officer. Garland will retire after his successful tenure as CEO of the company and its predecessor entities since 2009.

“This is an extraordinary time for the renewable energy sector and the entire Pattern team is exceptionally well positioned to deliver on the opportunities ahead,” says Garland. “Given his long history as a leader of this company, the strength of his commercial instincts, and his passion for Pattern’s vision, I believe Hunter is uniquely capable of leading this company in a way that provides consistency, continuity and leadership across the business both internally and externally.”

Armistead brings almost 30 years of energy experience including roles at Conoco-Phillips, Edison Mission Energy, and Babcock & Brown, previous to his time at Pattern.

“It has been a tremendous journey since we founded Pattern in 2009, and it is my honor and privilege to take on the CEO role,” states Armistead. “Pattern began with a modest pipeline, a few dedicated professionals, and a vision to accelerate the world’s energy transition. To see Pattern and our industry evolve into what we have become has been a beautiful ride and is one that has only just begun. I am 100 percent committed to driving the next chapter in our growth in a manner that is consistent with our mission, our culture and our values.”

“I have seen first-hand Mike Garland’s exceptional leadership of the company since 2009,” comments Lord John Browne, chairman of the board. “During his long service he has led Pattern through many successful phases of development. We are most grateful for all he has done. We conducted a thorough search for his successor and concluded that Hunter Armistead was the ideal candidate. He cares deeply for the company’s culture and people and brings great experience and understanding of the company’s business to the role.”

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CEP Renewables, CS Energy, Terrasmart, Lindsay Precast and NJR Clean Energy Ventures have completed the largest landfill solar project in North America. The 25.6 MW DC solar project is located in Mount Olive, N.J. It has enabled the township to recoup nearly $2.3 million in past taxes while at the same time transitioning the former Combe Fill North Landfill Superfund site into a revenue-generating, clean energy asset.

“We’re pleased to have been able to work closely with our reliable, long-time partners to convert yet another, previously unusable, landfill site into a renewable energy generating power plant,” says Chris Ichter, executive vice president at CEP Renewables. “There are over 10,000 closed landfills in the United States, yet only a small fraction of these parcels have been redeveloped. Transitioning more of these landfill sites into solar projects will create more local tax revenue, jobs, cleaner air, and affordable energy for residents throughout the country.”

“We’re proud to have been selected by CEP Renewables to provide our expertise for this impactful landfill solar project due to our track record of completing these challenging projects safely, on time and on budget,” comments Mike Dillon, director of operations at CS Energy. “This is our eighth project with CEP Renewables, our seventh project with Lindsay Precast and our fourteenth landfill solar project with Terrasmart. Our strong partnerships with each of these industry leaders also enabled us to efficiently deliver this high-quality landfill solar project, which will provide significant financial and environmental benefits to this community long-term.”

In addition to the benefits provided to the town, the large size and the challenging nature of this capped landfill solar project, the Mount Olive project is also notable in that it involved the purchasing of the landfill by way of the redevelopment and tax lien foreclosure process. This structure was entirely unique and resulted in the project winning the 2021 Award for Innovation in Governance from the New Jersey League of Municipalities. The Mount Olive project now serves as a model for the myriad other closed landfill sites throughout the U.S. – both in terms of the redevelopment process as well as the design and construction execution, while also providing greater tax revenue and more affordable clean energy for local communities.

NJR Clean Energy Ventures will own and operate the Mount Olive solar facility long-term. CEP Renewables owns the land for this project, which is being leased to NJR Clean Energy Ventures.

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Joe Fiori

The Honeoye Falls-Lima Central School District has chosen Nexamp as its community solar provider under a long-term contract. The district spans nine towns in three counties across western New York, comprising four schools that educate more than 2,100 students.

Under the program, the Honeoye Falls-Lima Central School District is an anchor tenant supporting 2.4 MW of renewable energy production from one of Nexamp’s community solar projects in Watertown, N.Y. That number represents approximately 40% of the project’s total capacity; the district will receive energy credits to reduce its annual electric costs while contributing to the expansion of renewable energy.

“Maximizing our resources to provide the best education possible for our students is a top priority, so finding ways to rein in expenses is always something we are looking for,” notes Gene Mancuso, superintendent of the Honeoye Falls-Lima Central School District. “The opportunity to yield savings while also addressing sustainability is a bonus and a move that we are very excited about. By subscribing to community solar, we support the addition of renewable energy on the grid, ultimately benefiting our students and their families with a cleaner, brighter future.”

The district will save approximately $40,000 each year from its annual allocation of nearly 2.4 million kWh of energy, delivering a total savings of more than $650,000 over the life of the contract. Nexamp also has another community solar farm located next to the middle school that brings additional revenue into the district through a PILOT agreement.

“Community solar for school districts and municipalities offers an easy way for the public sector to address sustainability goals and realize savings while doing right by the community,” says Joe Fiori, director of business development at Nexamp. “This agreement, combined with the Mendon Renewables array located just across from the middle school, demonstrates our commitment to being a long-term partner to the Town of Mendon and the Honeoye Falls-Lima School District.”

Nexamp is working on a collaborative education program with the district that will provide opportunities for students to tour a solar farm and learn more about the role of renewable energy in a more resilient grid. With the participation of public sector clients, community solar is growing rapidly in scale, helping to make significant economic and environmental benefits available to local area residents.

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