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Arctech Debuts Dual Row Solar Tracker with Multi-point Drive Support

Arctech, a tracking, racking and BIPV solutions provider, has launched its latest solar tracking solution, SkyWings. Enabled by the patented bidirectional slew drives, the SkyWings dual row solar tracker is designed with a multi-point drive mechanism. It is compatible with undulation terrain with the high rigidity enabled by multi-point drive design. The patented bidirectional slew drives enable two tracker rows to simultaneously move in synchrony.

The undulation tolerance of adjacent rows is largely increased, standing at 15% in both E-W and N-S directions. SkyWings’ modular design also adds flexibility to the plant layout, hence the new solar tracking solution accommodates more PV modules than other conventional solar tracking systems under the same terrain circumstances.

Besides stronger adaptability to undulation terrains, SkyWings is facilitated with the multi-point drive mechanism and specially designed torque tube-the patented triple D torque tube, allowing for stowing in a horizontal position with the highest stability.

Stowing flat greatly reduces pressure onto the PV modules surface, which is especially critical to preventing cracking and delamination on the current large-size modules. SkyWings only starts stowing at 22m/s, which generates up to 2% more energy yield per year, hence a lower levelized cost of energy.

SkyWings’ post span can be extended up to 10 meters, bringing down installation costs by up to 20% and the entire EPC expenditure by up to 2%, compared to projects utilizing traditional 1P trackers.

Equipped with the second-generation AI algorithms, SkyWings is able to calculate the optimum tracker tilt in various topographies and environments, which allows for real time shading avoidance to 8% more energy generation. SkyWings, fully compatible with Arctech’s cleaning robot product, SkyWe, is well suited to maximize solar energy production in power plant facilities in desert environments.

California zoning exemption granted to enable ‘even more rapid’ energy storage deployment

A 100MW/400MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project in California. Image: Courtesy of Arevon.

New legislation in California could open pathways for easier siting of energy storage projects by making changes to zoning laws.

State Governor Gavin Newsom signed the bill, AB 2625 into law a couple of days ago, which had enjoyed bipartisan political support. It removes the requirement to subdivide parcels of land which are being leased for electrical energy storage.

The bill had been sponsored by trade and advocacy group California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA) and authored by Assemblyman Phil Ting, a Democrat representing the 19th Assembly District encompassing western San Francisco and parts of San Mateo County.

CESA warmly welcomed the bill’s signing, saying that it would ease development barriers to energy storage deployments in California, putting electricity storage technology projects on the same footing as solar PV and wind.

Those renewable energy technologies are already exempted from the subdivision requirement, which CESA executive director Alex Morris said can be a complex and lengthy process which currently means developers and landowners have to traverse various extra steps crosscutting zoning, environmental, labour and other considerations.

In other words, the process of formally subdividing a parcel of land to comply with California’s Subdivision Map Act has thus far added extra time, months if not years according to CESA, to the development process. That’s because to gain permitting approval, each subdivision must be voted on and approved by local authorities, which in California means Boards of Supervisors at county level or City Councils.

With AB 2625 having passed, portions of parcels of land can be leased without subdivision being formally required, which CESA argued means better project economics and quicker lead times.

“I am encouraged by the momentum we have built for this overdue reform, and I look forward to seeing an even more rapid deployment of energy storage to further California’s clean energy goals, strengthen our grid, and reduce the cost of electricity across the state,” Assemblyman Ting said,

Ting noted that the bipartisan support the bill enjoyed was “a testament to the benefits that clean energy delivers to all Californians,” including cleaner air, economic growth and job creation, enhanced energy security and lower energy bills.

California is already the US’ leading state for battery storage and one of the leading regions in the world. With nearly 2GW of energy storage deployed across the entire state in 2021, grid operator CAISO which oversees about 80% of the state’s network hopes to have 4GW of cumulative installations in its service area by the end of this summer.

However, COVID19 brought into stark relief an already existing obstacle in terms of permitting – with site visits and in-person meetings not possible during stay-at-home periods of the pandemic, as with other parts of the US, deployments inevitably slowed down.

CESA has projected a need for 10,000MW of new energy storage over the next 10 years in California to enable progress towards its goal of 100% renewable energy-sourced electricity by 2045, so even with that leading position, California still needs to move faster, the trade group argued.

Last year, in declaring a state of emergency over California’s shortfall of electricity resources, Governor Newsom moved to enable expedited permitting of storage, as well as new renewable energy resources.

“To meet its ambitious decarbonisation goal, California will need to develop and deploy hundreds of new storage installations,” CESA’s Alex Morris said.

“While much work remains to be done, I believe this legislation is a key milestone in our effort and greatly improves the efficient permitting of a resource California increasingly cannot live without.”

It’s not just energy storage where permitting challenges are being tackled by the clean energy industry in California. Our sister site PV Tech recently reported the progress of new legislation to introduce automated permitting applications for rooftop solar PV, which likewise has been hailed as a game changing solution for the state.

Microgrids demonstrate versatility of battery tech and applications

Ameresco equipped the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, South Carolina (pictured) with clean energy tech including solar PV and battery storage. Image: Ameresco.

Microgrids are self-contained energy networks which can either be connected to the main grid or separate from it. They can also be both of those things, allowing a community or critical facility like a hospital or emergency shelter to disconnect from the grid when there’s an outage, for example.

Increasingly, clean or renewable microgrids often lean on battery storage as a key component, replacing diesel and other fossil fuel generators for the most part or relegating them to a backup role.

However, while the basic premise can be similar, microgrids today are demonstrating that a broad range of different technologies can be used. They can also be quite different in design from one project to the next, depending on what sort of applications the end customer is looking to fulfil.

Here are some recent diverse examples of microgrid project news that have come across our desks and inboxes at Energy-Storage.news.

Iron flow battery provides long-duration energy storage for recycling plant

A microgrid just inaugurated at an industrial recycling facility in Pennsylvania uses ESS Inc’s iron and saltwater electrolyte flow battery technology.

The microgrid, at technology asset waste handling company Sycamore International’s facility in the borough of West Grove, uses solar PV to reduce day-to-day electricity costs while also providing backup to prevent power outages from impacting productivity.

As reported by Energy-Storage.news in August 2021 as the project was announced, an ESS Inc 75kW/400kWh Energy Warehouse battery energy storage system (BESS) was selected by developer TerraSol Energies from a number of different options.

The flow battery system can provide between 4-12 hours of storage duration at different power rating configurations, with an expected 25-year lifetime. It is being integrated with a 115kWdc solar PV array.

“This project represents the kind of forward-thinking solution we need to build a decarbonised, resilient energy system,” US Representative for Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District Chrissy Houlahan said while visiting the project’s ribbon-cutting ceremony a few days ago.

Ameresco JV wins contract for missile facility’s microgrid

The US Military has long viewed microgrids as a way to enable secure and stable operation of critical facilities, reducing their vulnerability to everything from grid outages to cyber and physical infrastructure attacks.

Clean energy company Ameresco has been a provider of renewable energy, energy efficiency and smart energy upgrades and microgrids to the Forces – and to various other US Federal agencies – for several years.

The company said last week that its joint venture (JV) company HSGS-Ameresco has been awarded a contract to deploy a solar-battery-gas microgrid at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. A 700kW solar PV array, 500kW natural gas generator and 500kW battery storage system will be installed, beginning in December this year for completion by late 2023.

In addition to the microgrid equipment, the JV is being contracted to update various parts of the missile range, such as electrical panels, transformers and controls, fire alarm systems, adding cybersecurity and anti-terrorism measures, and more. HSGS-Ameresco will carry out all works, including supervising and providing labour, equipment, materials, supplies and transportation.

HSGS is a certified Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) which carries out energy generation, smart controls and building efficiency solutions to Federal agencies.

The microgrid will be able to power water wells at the test range for up to 14 days without grid power and will support various functions of the facility such as research labs and fire response.

“This microgrid system will enable the base to provide continuous power during a loss of utility event for wells on site that provide critical water supply to the installation,” Ameresco executive VP for Federal solutions Nicole Bulgarino said.

Saft BESS supports Sicilian islands’ renewable energy growth

France-headquartered battery manufacturer and battery storage solutions company Saft will support the integration of solar PV and hydroelectric power on two islands in Sicily, Italy.

The company, owned by TotalEnergies, is perhaps best known to readers of this site for its multi-megawatt grid-scale BESS solution, Intensium Max. However, for the projects on the islands of Ustica and Favignana, its smaller-scale product, Flex’ion, is being used.

On Favignana, four small solar-plus-storage systems, each of 2.4kWp PV output and 9kWh BESS capacity are being installed, along with three standalone BESS installations, each of 24.3kWh capacity. A Saft spokesperson told Energy-Storage.news the Favignana project is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

On Ustica, which is a more remote island, hydroelectric power and solar PV totalling 64kWp will be paired with 59.5kWh of Saft Flex’ion battery storage alongside some diesel generation for backup. The project “connected to the distribution network and integrated into a smart grid in the next few months,” the spokesperson said.

Flex’ion is specifically designed to support mission critical and must-run facilities. Its modularity means the technology can be used in different voltage and power range configurations, while it is designed to be maintenance-free over an expected 20-year lifetime.

The microgrids are part of the ‘I-Sole’ project, supported by the European Union (EU) and the Region of Sicily. Local power electronics company Layer Electronics is serving as I-Sole’s technical lead, and local utilities as well as experts from the University of Palermo and the Italian National Research Council are also involved.

“Remote Italian islands like Ustica or Favignana can’t rely on the mainland for their power supply and still they aim to reduce carbon emissions by integrating more renewables into the grid,” noted Saft’s general manager for Italy, Mauro Fassina.

“Sending technical people to those islands for maintenance purposes is not a simple task. The technical characteristics of these projects such as load profile or voltage were quite distinct and could have required different and customised solutions,” Fassina said, adding that this was why Saft’s modular, standardised and low maintenance approach to Flex’ion was selected.

Ameresco, Inovateus Finish Illinois Solar Project on Former Brownfield Site

Ameresco Inc., , a cleantech integrator specializing in energy efficiency and renewable energy, and Inovateus Solar, a solar engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company, have completed their “Brightfield” solar project in Danville, Ill., which was built on a former General Motors Powertrain Division Plant turned brownfield site. Greenbacker Renewable Energy Co., an independent power producer and green energy investment company, is the owner of the installation.

The 2.62 MW Danville solar system consists of over 6,600 solar modules and is connected to the Ameren utility grid. The completed project is expected to generate over 3,600,000 kWh of electricity.

“We can turn a serious problem into a tremendous opportunity by siting solar on closed landfills,” says Tyler Kanczuzewski, Inovateus’ vice president of sustainability. “The Danville Solar project is making productive use of land that might otherwise lie dormant, while avoiding construction in more pristine areas. We’re proud to partner with Ameresco on this project and to help the state of Illinois achieve its clean energy goals.”

“We’re thrilled to partner with Inovateus Solar and Ameresco on a clean energy endeavor that gives new life to land that had been idle, while also delivering for the community,” states Jeff Denovan, senior vice president of construction at Greenbacker. “In addition to the positive environmental impact of the solar power this project produces, it will also provide tax revenue to the Danville area.”

“We’re proud to have been a partner on this project designed to help meet sustainability goals and offer clean, resilient energy to the surrounding community,” adds Louis P. Maltezos, executive vice president of Ameresco. “This installation is a prime example of using innovative cleantech solutions to identify clean energy uses for public land.”

The Danville solar project began construction in November of 2020 and reached completion in May of 2022.

Alfen to deliver Sweden’s biggest grid-scale battery system so far

Alfen’s booth at the EES Europe / Intersolar Europe trade show, Munich, Germany in May 2022. Image: Cameron Murray / Solar Media.

Alfen has been contracted to supply a battery energy storage system (BESS) in Sweden for electricity network company Ellevio, which will be the Scandinavian nation’s biggest project of its type to date.

Netherlands-headquartered smart energy equipment provider Alfen said yesterday that it will be providing a 10MW BESS which will perform grid-balancing applications. A company spokesperson told Energy-Storage.news that its capacity will be 11.9MWh.

Ellevio provides electricity to around a million people. With Sweden targeting net zero emissions status by 2045 – one of the most aggressive national targets worldwide – the country plans to meet most of its power needs from abundant wind energy sources.

However, the expansion of variable wind generation on the grid brings with it challenges to solve. Chief among these is the need to stabilise fluctuations in energy supply which can cause grid disruptions, but other potential challenges include the fact that wind energy may need to be curtailed from being sent to the grid at times of overproduction.

At the same time, in common with many other parts of Europe such as the Netherlands, the electricity grid in Sweden is becoming congested, making it difficult to hook up even new housing developments and industrial facilities with connections.

Yet to decarbonise the economy means largely to electrify buildings and heat networks, and Ellevio quoted statistics that project annual electricity consumption in Sweden will more than double over the next 25 years from around 140TWh to 310TWh by 2045. This is also something battery storage can ease.

A 10MW unit of Alfen’s TheBattery Elements BESS solution will be deployed for Ellevio, capable of fast frequency reserve (FFR) frequency response and delivering inertia to the grid with response times of a fraction of a second (

Powin Energy enters Australia’s battery storage market with 1.7GWh developer agreement

Powin recently launched ‘Centipede,’ its BESS solution which assembles the company’s Stack battery blocks into large-scale systems. Image: Powin Energy.

Powin Energy has entered a partnership with developer Akaysha Energy to deploy battery storage systems in Australia.

Announced yesterday, Powin said the framework agreement covers the deployment of more than 1.7GWh of systems over a two-year period, marking the US-headquartered energy storage system manufacturer and integrator’s first moves into the Australian market.

Akaysha Energy is currently developing nine battery energy storage system (BESS) projects that it wants to put into the Australian National Electricity Market (NEM), totaling about a gigawatt of power output and 3GWh of capacity.

Just a fortnight ago, Energy-Storage.news reported that BlackRock Real Assets, which manages more than US$60 billion of funds worldwide, has acquired Akaysha and committed to investing a billion Australian Dollars (US$700 million) to progress the developer’s project pipeline.

Although described in general terms as a developer of renewable energy and energy storage, Akaysha Energy’s managing director Nick Carter said he identified a gap in the market for a “fully integrated development business focused primarily on storage,” hinting that the wider Asia-Pacific region is also a potential target market.

The developer has selected Powin Energy’s Stack BESS products and Stack OS control system, including advanced power plant controller. Powin said it has been working with Akaysha to advance the grid interconnection process for its projects for several months.

One aspect of that has been making sure they meet the Generator Interconnection Standard mandated by the grid operator for energy resources to enter the market and connect to the grid.

“It is critical to have a diverse competitive landscape in the Australian ESS market. Powin’s vertically integrated and flexible business model reduces project cost and risk by having multiple trusted cell suppliers, proprietary software, and an in-house power plant controller,” Carter said on the agreement.

Developer’s proposed projects include eight-hour duration BESS for NSW

Projects Akaysha has announced publicly include Ulinda Park, a large-scale BESS connected to a substation in Queensland’s Western Downs region – where the state’s biggest BESS to date has just been connected, but a need has been identified for plenty more.

The first phase of Ulinda Park would see a 150MW/300MWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) BESS deployed to support rapid expansion of wind and solar PV in the area while leveraging existing grid infrastructure. Ulinda Park has received development approval from local authorities in the Western Downs.

Another project is the proposed Palmerston BESS in Tasmania. The island state, off the southeast coast of Australia, is targeting producing twice as much renewable energy as its total electricity consumption requires and storing and transporting it to the mainland.

Akaysha Energy’s Palmerston project would be batteries equipped with advanced inverter technology which can provide synchronous inertia to support the grid in a way that traditional thermal generation has done in the past. It’s an application for batteries the Australian government, via the national renewable energy agency (ARENA), has been keen to support.

However, the company’s biggest publicly announced project is Orana BESS, proposed for construction in central-west New South Wales which could be a large-scale project with up to eight hours battery storage duration.

Proposed output would be between 200MW to 400MW and the capacity up to 1,600MWh built in two phases. Orana is at an earlier stage of development, with the developer in consultation with local communities and carrying out environmental assessment, according to its website.

Nevada ACCIONA Energía Solar Plant Reaches Safety Milestones

Nevada Solar One

ACCIONA Energía has accomplished safety milestones at five operational locations in North America. The EcoGrove Wind Farm in Lena, Ill. and Velva Wind Farm in Velva, N.D. reached 13 years without a recordable injury. The Nevada Solar One Concentrated Solar Plant located in Boulder City, Nev. reached seven years without a recordable injury. The Pioneer Grove Wind Farm in Cedar County, Iowa, and the Dempsey Ridge Wind Farm in Cheyenne, Ok. reached six and five years respectively with zero recordable injuries.

“ACCIONA Energía’s primary principle is the safety of our people and the communities in which we operate,” says Joaquin Castillo, CEO of ACCIONA Energía North America. “We are proud of our longstanding practice of bringing safe and sustainable energy from our solar and wind facilities.”

ACCIONA Energía carries out its safety and health policy through an Integrated Management System, which is certified under the international standard ISO 45001 and applied in all the countries in which the company is active.

“Safe work does not happen on its own,” states Karl Delooff, director of quality safety and environment of ACCIONA Energía in North America. “We work with high voltage electricity in the air and on the ground and there is nothing more important than ensuring that our people return home every day.”

“These milestones are a testament of the work done by our teams to embrace our safety-first culture,” add Krys Rootham, vice president of operations.

ACCIONA Energía owns and operates 10 wind farms in the United States, totaling more than 1 GW of wind capacity and the 64 MW Nevada Solar One Concentrated Solar Power facility. The company also has a portfolio of four solar plants under development that will increase the capacity of solar and wind production to more than 2 GW.

Soltage Constructs, Commissions 2.7 MW Illinois Community Solar Farm

Independent power producer Soltage has completed the construction and commissioning of a 2.7 MW community solar project in Pontiac, Ill. The project is built on land owned by the City of Pontiac and its energy sales are managed by MC Squared Energy Services. The project features single axis-trackers, bi-facial modules and incorporates native pollinator friendly vegetation to benefit the local environment.

The Pontiac project will supply over 4,000 MWh of renewable energy per year to local municipal, commercial and residential community solar subscribers under the Illinois community solar program. Soltage is delivering energy to its customers through an ongoing partnership with a licensed alternative retail electric supplier, MC Squared. Announced in 2019, the partnership designates MC Squared to serve as Soltage’s exclusive subscription manager for all of the company’s community solar projects across Illinois over the next twenty years.

“We’re glad to continue the drumbeat of community solar development in Illinois to bring clean, affordable and reliable energy to the community in Pontiac and nearby geographies,” says Jonathan Roberts, vice president of development for Soltage. “After entering Illinois’ market in 2018, we’ve seen a great demand for community solar through our ongoing partnership with MC Squared and we look forward to increasing access to clean energy for residents and businesses alike.”

“We’re thrilled to continue our role with Soltage in growing Illinois’ clean energy sources to lower our emissions and provide residents and businesses with access to affordable energy around the clock,” comments Chuck Sutton, president of MC Squared Energy Services. “It is exciting to see the state’s goal of reaching 100% carbon-free energy by 2045 roll out across the State, and we are glad to do our part in connecting zero carbon projects with energy consuming customers.”

US government launches US$335 million battery recycling programme

What will be North America’s biggest lithium battery recycling facility is scheduled to open soon in Covington, Georgia, through Ascend Elements. Image: Ascend Elements.

The US government Department of Energy (DOE) has begun implementation of a US$335 million programme to support battery recycling.

The DOE has issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking input to help guide the programme, which aims to foster and support battery recycling capabilities within the US.

It has arisen due to the importance of batteries in grid storage and for transportation. It follows a similar RFI being issued earlier this month by the department for research and development (R&D) into so-called Critical Materials, which included ingredients for batteries.

Much conversation around the US clean energy sector and government support has rightly focused on the more recent Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and what that will do to unlock US$369 billion total investment into climate change mitigation and energy security.

However, the recycling and Critical Materials R&D programmes are being funded with money set aside through the earlier Bipartisan Infrastructure Law aka the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The US$1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law passed in November 2021.

As noted at the time by the national Energy Storage Association (ESA) – now part of the American Clean Power Association – trade group, this included US$3 billion for various aspects of the battery manufacturing value chain, including recycling as well as materials processing.

There is also other support for energy storage enabled by the law, including US$500 million for energy storage demonstration projects and US$14 billion towards energy resiliency programmes for communities and another US$3 billion for technologies that add flexibility to the grid. Energy storage is a likely component of efforts in both those two latter areas.

“Battery recycling doesn’t just remove harmful waste from our environment; it also strengthens domestic manufacturing by placing used materials back into the supply chain,” US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said yesterday.

“The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is making big investments in our clean energy and transportation future and securing our supply chain here at home will allow more Americans to benefit from the many clean technologies powered by lithium batteries.”

The law also puts US$60 million funding towards supporting second life applications for electric vehicle (EV) batteries, with stationary battery energy storage systems (BESS) often considered a suitable application for second life.

Recycling represents opportunities on several levels

Battery recycling is already taking off in the US through North American companies like Li-Cycle, Ascend Elements and Redwood Materials. The CEO of the latter, JB Straubel, told Granholm in a 2021 online event that recovery and recycling can result in very high utilisation of materials, sometimes dozens of times from one application to the next. In April, Straubel said before a Senate committee that Redwood is already processing up to 6GWh of end-of-life lithium batteries for recycling every year.

That might be a small trickle compared to what’s expected as more and more EVs come offline towards the end of this decade and although BESS will likely represent a much smaller proportion of total battery waste, it will be in a comparable situation as earlier Li-ion installations from the mid-2010s start reaching their end of life about 15 to 20 years after deployment.

Li-Cycle chief commercial officer Kunal Phalpher told this site a while ago that expert data indicates there will be raw materials shortages that hamper efforts to switch to renewable energy and electric transport by mid-2020s.

“We have to make more materials available in two ways. One is more out of the ground, which we need because if we’re trying to electrify the world, there’s not enough material out of the ground yet to make that happen,” Phalpher said.

“But then on the back end, [we have to] make sure that we’re recirculating those and making sure that there’s a sustainable path for materials that are either scrapped from production or are reaching end of life, so we get those back into the supply chain.”

Furthermore, most Critical Materials aren’t sourced from the ground or processed in the US today, so one way to localise materials supply is through the secondary market or recycling supply chain, which also has benefits from a sustainability perspective. Recycled materials, already prepared once to be suitable for use in batteries, can actually be higher quality resources than materials taken from the ground, which might require more refining and processing to get to battery grade quality, Phalpher said.

What’s interesting for Li-Cycle about BESS from a business perspective is that some utility-scale projects will be several megawatt-hours each, and bigger. That means projects coming to end-of-life with 200 or 300 tonnes of batteries each.

“Whereas if we work with the automotive OEMs right now, just on their day-to-day business, in replacements, you get a pack here, a pack there, unless there’s some broader problem or recall. So, it’s a bit different, rather than the linear, steady sort of growth [for EVs] or for consumer electronics, which are kind of always going through the cycle.”

Comments will be accepted by the DOE until 5pm Eastern Time on 14 October 2022 and the RFI can be found here on the department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy website.

Feedback is being sought on how federal investments can accelerate the recycling value chain from collection and transport to processing and recycling. Input on second life applications will also be welcomed, as will suggestions on how to support US workers in the industry, including how to align with the Biden-Harris administration’s objectives of enabling a just and equitable energy transition.

Yotta Deploys Solar, Energy Storage in Underserved Calif. Area with CEC Funds

Photo: Yotta Energy

The California Energy Commission (CEC) has awarded $1.23 million to modular energy storage technology company Yotta Energy to develop a solar and storage system to address energy inequality in lower-income areas. The project will include battery backup for a multifamily property located in Santa Ana, Calif. In addition to economic benefits, the project will also examine reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, improvements to the surrounding environment, and implications to the existing utility grid by adding solar and storage in a low-income community.

“Our state has long been dedicated to introducing and integrating renewable energy, but as lower-income areas lagged behind in adoption due to a lack of resources, these communities have experienced elevated air pollution levels,” states David Hochschild, CEC’s chair. “We look forward to working with Yotta Energy on this project to demonstrate the viability of these installations and how we can replicate similar types across the state.”

Yotta will work with Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), an independent, nonprofit energy research and development organization, and Promise Energy, a solar developer.

The initiative will demonstrate how solar and storage solutions can provide economic benefit for the city of Santa Ana. At scale, this can become a cost-effective solution that drives higher solar plus storage adoption rates, providing a pathway to an affordable, distributed energy resource solution for the residential market in California. Further, it decreases the existing fragility of the grid by offering alternative, local and decarbonized power.

Through replication and scaling, Yotta hopes to expand its solutions to other similar locations throughout the country, providing sustainable initiatives to make solar energy storage and usage more accessible.

“This is a significant step for the city of Santa Ana as the state looks to adopt and implement greener technologies into its buildings,” says Omeed Badkoobeh, CEO of Yotta Energy. “Not only will this project lead to a cleaner, healthier local environment, but it will also open the door for economic prosperity and growth in Santa Ana. As we expect to continue growing and implementing our solution in communities nationwide, we look forward to ensuring that everyone has access to a reliable energy supply.”

Ahead of installing the solar and storage system, Yotta will also perform data collection at SolarTAC’s Colorado facility.

Yotta’s technology features a PV-coupled architecture that provides efficient energy storage at a lower total installed cost. This technology incorporates lithium-iron-phosphate batteries designed with advanced thermal management. The integrated software plus hardware solution enables Yotta to address grid outages by enhancing grid resilience and reliability.