Declan Flanagan

Declan Flanagan, former CEO of Orsted’s onshore business, has launched Bluestar Energy Capital, a new global renewable energy investment platform with an initial $100 million in capital for greenfield renewable energy development. Bluestar, founded by Flanagan, is also announcing several key management hires.

“A huge amount of capital is seeking a role in the energy transition, but a scarcity remains of the right kind of capital for new development platforms and new projects. Our vision is to be one of the largest global investors of early-stage development capital,” comments Flanagan, CEO of Bluestar. “We have structured Bluestar as a portfolio of distinct regional platforms based on the conviction that successful project development is a very local business. Success is about empowering regional leadership while bringing global scale and an owner’s attention to detail in managing project and market risk.”

The initial $100 million raised by Bluestar will fund the execution of the first phase of its business plan. Bluestar’s bedrock strategy is greenfield development and a long-term approach to the infrastructure needed to drive the energy transition to 2030 and beyond. Bluestar will develop regional platforms in the United States, Australia and Europe that will be either wholly owned or controlled subsidiaries. The company’s initial focus is exclusively on project development capital. It will evaluate various options for construction and operating capital in due course.

Flanagan, who will remain the controlling shareholder of Bluestar, is joined by new investors S2G Ventures and Great Bay Renewables. As part of the transaction Aaron Rudberg, COO of S2G, and Frank Getman, CEO of Great Bay, have joined Bluestar’s board of directors. Senan Murphy, former CFO of wind power pioneer Airtricity (sold to SSE and E.On) has also joined Bluestar’s board as a non-executive.

Following the closing of this funding round, the Company has established its first two regional development platforms. Nova Clean Energy LLC is Bluestar’s North American-focused development platform. It is pursuing a greenfield project development plan, as well as opportunistic M&A across wind, solar and storage.

Bluestar Energy Australia is Bluestar’s Australian-focused development platform. Since entering the Australian market, it has already built a pipeline that is focused primarily on wind power, with plans for further additions of solar and storage.

Bluestar has also made several key management hires in recent months. Dennis Meany, former president of Lincoln Clean Energy (sold to Orsted) was named president and board member. Dylan Reeves, former chief commercial and product officer of onshore wind services at GE Renewable Energy, was named head of project delivery. Cortney Zaret, former financial controller at Orsted Onshore was named head of accounting and administration. Joe Condo, former general counsel at Orsted Onshore and Lincoln Clean Energy, was named general counsel.

At Bluestar’s regional platforms, Jenn Goodwillie, former vice president at Orsted Onshore, was named head of development at Nova Clean Energy.

“S2G is thrilled to be working with Declan and the Bluestar team to enable the energy transition,” says Rudberg. “The Bluestar team are proven operators. They understand what the industry needs and are well positioned to capitalize on the growing energy opportunity across the U.S., Europe, and Asia.”

“Declan is a recognized leader in renewables and the global energy transition with an incredible track record of success,” adds Getman. “We are excited to support him and his team in helping create the next great global renewables platform.”

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Todd Michaels

Correlate Infrastructure Partners Inc., an energy optimization and clean energy solutions provider for North America, has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire Aegis Renewable Energy Inc. Aegis is a commercial, industrial and community solar company focused on solar project development and EPC (engineering, procurement, construction) services in the eastern United States and is a member of the Amicus Solar Cooperative Network.

Upon completion, Correlate’s acquisition of Aegis Renewable Energy will provide the company strategic abilities to capitalize on the Northeast renewable energy market. With expertise in simplifying energy optimization and sustainability, Correlate intends to utilize Aegis’ regulatory knowledge, project fulfillment, and operations and maintenance capabilities to deliver on and expand its project backlog in the region.

“Upon completion of this key acquisition, Correlate will add to its highly experienced team and will bring proven success to the Northeast market as a leading renewable energy project developer while creating a compelling fit for expanding Correlate’s energy optimization platform,” states Todd Michaels, Correlate’s CEO and president.

“Our search was focused on finding the best strategic fit to match our growth, culture, diversification and strength of leadership goals,” shares Nils Behn, CEO of Aegis. The acquisition will also conclude a year-long search by Aegis. “After rejecting several offers from other companies, we were approached by Correlate and it became apparent very quickly that they hit the mark on all fronts. We couldn’t be happier with our decision to join their team.”

“This proposed Aegis Renewable Energy acquisition will bolster Correlate’s Northeast presence with a top-notch team that has been successfully executing commercial and community-scale solar energy systems for the past 11 years,” notes Channing Chen, CFO of Correlate. “In addition to a strong regional presence, the team’s capabilities and expertise can be leveraged more broadly to help execute opportunities nationally and align with Correlate’s core values and objectives.”

“We intend to move toward the execution of a definitive acquisition agreement and the closing of the Aegis transaction as soon as due diligence has concluded and closing conditions have been achieved by all parties,” Chen adds.

The proposed acquisition was previously announced on the Form 8-K filing on Aug. 25, 2022. It is currently anticipated to close in Q4 2022.

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BASF Verbund facility in Freeport, Texas

BASF and X-ELIO have signed a 12-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to supply 48 MW of solar power to BASF’s Verbund site in Freeport, Texas. The BASF Freeport site is one of BASF’s six global Verbund sites.

“With this agreement, we take a big step forward, reaching 100 percent of the site’s purchased power to be supplied from renewable energy,” says Brad Morrison, senior vice president and site manager for the BASF site in Freeport. “Securing renewable energy at our Freeport site is a necessary step to improving our energy footprint and we appreciate the partnership with X-ELIO, which helps us realize the company’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.”

X-ELIO’s 72 MW Liberty Solar Photovoltaic project, located in Houston, is expected to be operational by 2024. It will generate 137 GWh of clean energy per year. The project will also include a 60 MW energy storage system.

“This agreement is a major milestone in the development of renewable and sustainable energy for the industrial supply, one of the major objectives to achieve the necessary energy transition goals,” states Bill Morrow, country manager of X-ELIO in the U.S. “X-ELIO is a great partner committed to the sustainability needs of its customers and it is an honor for us to be able to collaborate with exceptional partners like BASF.”

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Qcells’ USA president Rich Chung at last week’s event to celebrate the start of construction of the 190MW Cunningham project in Texas. Image: Qcells.

Qcells has followed up the start of construction in the US on its first-ever standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) project with the announcement of three more projects.

The vertically integrated solar PV and smart energy system company, together with developer Summit Ridge Energy, said it is working on three standalone BESS facilities in New York.

Last week, as reported by Energy-Storage.news, Qcells said it had closed a US$150 million financing deal and begun construction of its 190MW/380MWh Cunnigham Energy Storage project in Texas, marking its first entry into the utility-scale standalone storage space.

The company said the revolving credit loan facility, secured with lead arrangers BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole CIB, would go towards its pipeline of future projects, as well as being applied to Cunningham.

The three New York projects, in Staten Island and Brooklyn, are much smaller, adding up to 12MW/48MWh in total. The revenues they earn will come from a different business model than the Texas project which will play into that state’s ERCOT wholesale merchant electricity market.

They are instead enrolled into New York’s Value of Distributed Energy Resources (VDER) scheme, through which utilities in the state pay owners and operators of DERs compensation based on when and where they provide electricity to the grid.

That’s based on five factors: energy value, capacity value, environmental value, demand reduction value and locational system relief value.

Qcells’ partner, Summit Ridge Energy, specialises in community solar PV and energy storage projects and already has some other facilities enrolled into the scheme. Summit Ridge has a portfolio of more than 700MW of clean energy projects in operation or development in the US, together with over 100MWh of standalone energy storage, which it only began developing in 2019.

Under the terms of the pair’s three-year partnership, Qcells will supply the energy storage hardware and software. Qcells said it will lean on the energy management system (EMS) it acquired when it bought US commercial and industrial (C&I) storage software specialist Geli in late 2020.

The Geli software will be able to predict peaks in energy demand on the NYISO grid, exporting stored energy during these times to support the network’s stable operation. It was claimed these projects will be the first in New York to “intelligently address peak hour dispatch”.

“The opportunity for energy storage in New York is significant––not only will standalone storage support grid resilience as the state continues to transition to renewable energy, but it will also help reduce reliance on fossil fuel peaker plants and help to regulate grid frequency,” Summit Ridge Energy COO Brian Dunn said.

As noted last week when New York State’s governor Kathy Hochul announced funding to support a grouping of long-duration energy storage projects and technologies, New York has a goal to deploy 6GW of energy storage on the grid by 2030.

In tandem with that is the need to push forward decarbonisation and improvements in air quality by reducing reliance on fossil fuel peaker plants. Thus far, plans for replacement have largely been focused on building large-scale four-hour battery storage plants, typically of about 100MW/400MWh from the few examples in development so far.

However, distributed battery systems like the trio on the way from Qcells and Summit Ridge Energy could be a complementary way to get clean peaking capacity onto the network quickly.

Construction on the three projects has already begun and commissioning is expected to take place early in 2023.

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Ben Kunnen, CEO of Opteco, one of the companies involved (left), with a sonnen home battery storage system. Image: Opteco / Elia.

Some 2,000 residential battery systems in Belgium have been aggregated into a virtual power plant (VPP) and are providing balancing services to transmission system operator Elia.

More than 2,000 households in Flanders, the northern half of the country, have been helping to maintain grid stability with their home batteries as part of a project by Elia and local firms Smart E-Grid, a VPP solutions provider, and Opteco which installs home energy systems.

As part of the project, Elia launched a market model where consumers can match their consumption with energy production. Participants need a home battery and a smart meter to participate. An intermediary, not specified but most likely Smart-E Grid, is aggregating all the batteries into one portfolio to provide grid balancing services.

Although not mentioned in a press release, a system from German home energy storage and VPP company sonnen sonnen was pictured, indicating some of its batteries are participating. Elia said that Opteco installed the batteries which are participating in the VPP project.

The aim is to have over 3,000 batteries participating by the end of the year and around 6MW of available power, which would cover 15% of Belgium’s daily grid balancing service needs (26MW). The figures equate to 2kW per home battery, which is on the low side.

The VPP programme is large within the context of the European market while a few announcements out of the US have seen much larger numbers.

Utility Rocky Mountain Power’s (RMP) collaboration with sonnen and solar contractor ES Solar in Idaho and Utah expects to have 35MWh of grid-connected battery capacity by the end of the year, while a project between Tesla and California utility PG&E saw up to 16.5MW discharged by 2,500 customers in a single day.

Guidehouse Insights recently estimated that annual deployments of distributed energy storage aggregated into VPPs could reach 3GW by 2030.

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Infographic on the twin BESS projects and how they will work in partnership with the run-of-river hydroelectric plants. Image: RWE.

Global energy company RWE will bring a 72MW battery energy storage system (BESS) online in November in Werne, Germany, the first of two connected systems totalling 112MW, a spokesperson told Energy-Storage.news.

The Werne battery system will be virtually coupled with another 45MW unit at a power plant in Lingen, also in development, and existing run-of-river hydropower facilities along the river Mosel, as Energy-Storage.news wrote when the project was announced last year.

A press spokesperson for RWE said the Werne unit will start commercial operation by the end of November 2022 and the plan is still for it primarily provide grid frequency services. The main grid frequency services market in West Europe is Frequency Containment Reserve (FCR). The BESS units will also be used to optimise the operation of the hydropower facilities.

At the time of the announcement, RWE told Enegy-Storage.news that the two BESS units would have a combined energy capacity of 128MWh.

The spokesperson did not say when the Lingen unit is expected to come online. Energy-Storage.news has asked for further clarification and will update the story when a response is received.

RWE used its proprietary enclosure design and will apply its own Energy Management System to manage the safe and reliable operation of the BESS units. The two BESS units are made up of 420 lithium-ion battery racks in 47 overseas shipping containers, using battery cells from CATL, the spokesperson added.

“With a combined output of 117 MW the combined battery storage system will be one of the greatest in Germany,” they said.

Though the 72MW Werne unit alone may be the largest in the country when it comes online in November. The largest operational facility that Energy-Storage.news is aware of is the 60MW/52MWh Lausitz Battery Energy Storage System, attached to a coal plant operated by power plant operator and utility LEAG.

The latest issue of our quarterly journal, PV Tech Power (Vol.32) is out now and includes a close look at Germany’s possible resurgence as a major utility-scale energy storage market. Learn more here.

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Fluence is the largest battery storage system integrator in the world. Image: Fluence.

New Fluence CEO Julian Nebreda is likely to oversee a period with less rapid top-line growth but a greater emphasis on making that growth profitable, an equity analyst told Energy-Storage.news.

In response to this, the global battery energy storage system integrator’s VP of investor relations Lexington May indicated to Energy-Storage.news that it may indeed be more selective about projects in future, but would still grow strongly.

“Fluence is making a primary focus on profitable growth. That does not suggest that top line will suffer, quite the opposite given the tailwinds from the Inflation Reduction Act. We expect to continue to grow with the market while focusing on generating healthy returns by focusing on higher margin projects,” May said.

News of a change in CEO and then CFO came either side of a set of quarterly results which saw revenue fall for the first time since going public late last year. Quarter three did see the company approach a positive gross profit margin, but a net loss of US$61 million off US$239 million in sales – 50% up year-on-year despite the 14% fall in sales – prompted further discussions about its path to profitability during an analyst call.

Discussing these developments, Evercore ISI Research’s senior research analyst James West told Energy-Storage.news that while the CEO change was most likely a mutual decision, it should help the company deliver on generating returns.

“Manuel (Pérez Dubuc, now former CEO) has done a good job running the business, putting in a ‘land and expand’-type strategy, growing their presence in the market. He’s very close to Julian so it’s not surprising that he is ready to turn it over to somebody he trusted to get them on this path to profitability. It appears to me that they were both on board with the change,” West said.

“Julian as he takes over as Fluence CEO is very focused on that path to profitability. So I think they’ll be less inclined to just chase customers for customers’ sake, but will be more inclined to chase the profitable jobs.”

“Part of the CEO change was that Manuel was more of a kind of startup CEO with the ‘land and expand’ approach. Julian is more ‘we’re still going to expand but we’re going to drive it profitably’. Going forward the top line growth may not be as rapid as before, but it will be profitable growth.”

Revenue growth has been high up until the recent quarter; 250% in Q2, for example. Much of the downturn in Q3 was put down to logistics and supply chain issues blighting the whole sector, and a new contract manufacturing facility opening this month in Utah should mitigate these for its US projects.

“The company has lacked global contract manufacturing and supply chain management problems have hurt them as well,” West said. “I think they could have been more proactive on lining up contract manufacturers in the US and Europe more quickly. But nobody saw the Asian supply chain challenges that have unfolded coming.”

Carol Couch, Fluence SVP & chief supply chain and manufacturing officer, told Energy-Storage.news that the company has been proactive in this regard and expects to bring a European facility online in 2023.

Adding: “It takes well over a year to establish a new contract manufacturing facility. In fact, Fluence began negotiating with contract manufacturers for its Utah facility prior to going public in October 2021. Given the challenges from a global supply chain standpoint, and given the highly complex nature of our products, it takes time to qualify new vendors and suppliers.”

As Energy-Storage.news reported, Fluence also recently changed CFO, replacing Dennis Fehr with Manavendra (Manu) Sial from home solar and storage company SunPower. SunPower had no immediate replacement lined up.

Lexington May confirmed West’s suggestion that this change was driven by Nebreda, saying: “Correct, Fluence’s CFO change was not a reflection of Dennis’ performance but rather Julian wanting to bring in his own CFO, someone with a clean slate and fresh perspective.”

Discussing the timing, West added: “Julian felt like he had Manu available now so decided to go ahead and do it now rather than drag it out for a few quarters.”

James West is senior managing director and senior research analyst for Evercore ISI, responsible for research coverage of sustainable technologies & clean energy and the oil service, equipment & drilling industries.

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Another EDF Renewables project, Desert Harvest 1 Solar project in California

EDF Renewables North America has signed a 15-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with McDonald’s Corp. The 255 MW AC / 332 MW DC Apollo Solar project, located in Texas, is expected to begin delivery of low carbon electricity in June 2024.

“We applaud McDonald’s for taking action on climate change and are honored to partner with them to address their restaurant electricity carbon footprint,” says Matt McCluskey, vice president of development for the South-Central Region for EDF Renewables. “Through the purchase of clean energy from Apollo Solar, McDonald’s will be able to reduce GHG emissions in support of their sustainability goals while the project construction phase will provide the local community with a boost to the economy through job creation, local spending with vendors, and an expanded tax base.”

“It’s been a great pleasure to work with a counterparty such as McDonald’s that is willing to provide the flexibility needed to bring the Apollo Solar Project to fruition during these uncertain times for the solar industry,” McCluskey continues. “EDF Renewables is committed to continuing its successful partnerships with corporate and industrial customers who have emerged as large buyers of renewable energy.”

Once complete, the project is expected to generate 619,000 MWh of low-carbon energy annually, enough to meet the consumption of over 1,200 U.S. McDonald’s restaurants.

“We are thrilled to add EDF Renewables and the Apollo Solar project to our U.S. renewable energy portfolio as part of our continued commitment to climate action,” states Elaine Strunk, senior director of global sustainability at McDonald’s. “Apollo Solar plays a significant role in our science-based emissions reduction target for 2030 and brings a considerable amount of new renewable generation to the grid. Together with EDF Renewables, this project furthers our shared goal of making a more sustainable planet for generations to come.”

“Corporate demand for clean energy has remained strong despite the supply chain issues troubling the solar market,” comments Walid Norris, vice president of client solutions for CustomerFirst Renewables. “The McDonald’s team was determined through their use of innovative contracting structures to execute a major solar procurement that would significantly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, and they found a great partner with EDF Renewables.”

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From 2016 to 2020, the carbon intensity of U.S. power generation fell 18%, driven by a shift in the U.S. electricity generation mix away from coal and toward natural gas and renewables, reports the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). The carbon intensity of power generation measures the amount of CO2 emitted to produce a unit of electricity. All but seven U.S. states decreased their carbon intensity over that five-year period, although the amount of the decrease varied widely.

In 2020, the carbon intensity of U.S. power generation averaged 854 lbs. of CO2 per MWh, but carbon intensity varies by energy source. In 2020, the carbon intensity of coal in the United States was 2,274 lbs. of CO2/MWh. Natural gas was less carbon intensive than coal at 980 lbs. of CO2/MWh. Nuclear power plants and non-emitting renewables, such as hydroelectric, wind, and solar power, produce little to no CO2 emissions.

The carbon intensity of power generation varies by state because the mix of fuel sources used to generate electricity is different in different states. Notably, states also receive and deliver electricity to other states, so the carbon intensity of generation in a state does not necessarily reflect the carbon intensity of the electricity used in that state.

The states with the lowest carbon intensities of power generation either have a large share of generation from renewables, or a large combined share from renewables and nuclear. In 2020, Vermont had the lowest carbon intensity of power generation at 8.4 lbs. of CO2/MWh. Almost all of Vermont’s in-state electricity generation came from renewables, and Vermont brings in about 60% of its electricity from Canada.

The states with the highest carbon intensities of power generation have larger shares of in-state generation from coal- or petroleum-fired power plants than the national average. Wyoming, the state with the highest carbon intensity of power generation in 2020 (1,970.8 lbs. of CO2/MWh), generated 79% of its power from coal.

Despite the large variation in carbon intensity levels, most states are reducing the carbon intensity of their power generation. Forty-three states and the District of Columbia recorded lower carbon intensity of power generation in 2020 relative to 2016.

The five states with the largest reductions in carbon intensity of power generation of lbs. of CO2/MWh between 2016 and 2020 were Tennessee (486), Maryland (477), Iowa (443), Kansas (371) and Oklahoma (348).

In Tennessee, the share of in-state generation from nuclear and natural gas-fired plants increased as the share of coal-fired generation declined. In Maryland, natural gas’s share of generation increased from 15% in 2016 to 39% in 2020; coal’s share decreased from 37% to 9%. Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma – all located in the central wind belt – reduced their carbon intensity as wind generation continued to displace coal-fired generation.

Image: Andreas Gücklhorn on Unsplash

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David Field

Energy Toolbase has launched Luminia‘s financing solution onto the ETB Developer platform to allow for in-platform power purchase agreement (PPA) and Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loan financing for commercial solar, energy storage and energy efficiency projects. With Luminia’s financing solutions, ETB users can now instantly pre-qualify and quote Clean Energy PPA and PACE loans and gain access to a full suite of financing options for commercial projects.

Energy Toolbase’s ETB Developer platform provides renewable energy professionals with a seamless solution to model the avoided cost of solar and energy storage projects and configure any type of transaction that fits the customer’s needs. The integration, hosted directly within the platform, gives users additional options for financing and access to quick quotes. The quotes are generated instantly with a few clicks, expediting the modeling, quoting and selling process to get more solar, storage and energy efficiency projects deployed in the field.

Luminia pairs financing solutions with its proprietary technology platform, enabling commercial and industrial property owners to deploy a range of sustainability improvements including solar, energy storage, electric vehicle charging stations and other energy efficiency upgrades without any upfront payment.

“Luminia has an outstanding track record of financing commercial projects in our industry, and we’re very excited to have them on the platform,” says Scott D’Ambrosio, vice president of sales at Energy Toolbase. “The unique solution and financing options that they provide to commercial developers will open more doors for getting projects to the finish line.”

“We are thrilled to integrate our Clean Energy PPA and full suite of financing products into the Energy Toolbase platform, making it easier for renewable energy developers to bring more sustainable energy projects to completion through more accessible financing options,” states David Field, co-managing partner of Luminia. “Eliminating the barriers associated with commercial solar is critical in achieving large-scale solar adoption, and that’s what we’ve set out to do with our financing solutions.”

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