Credit: RWE

RWE Renewables has started operations for the Hickory Park Solar project, a 195.5 MW AC facility coupled with a 40 MW 2-hour battery storage system, located in Mitchell County, Ga. RWE is operator and manager of the solar facility, selling the energy and renewable attributes from the facility to Georgia Power through its Renewable Energy Development Initiative (REDI) program.

“Projects like Hickory Park, with its co-located battery storage system, will become increasingly important as renewables form a bigger part of the energy mix,” says Silvia Ortín, CEO of RWE Renewables Americas. “Our largest solar project in the Americas is now benefiting the state of Georgia, including tax revenue to local counties and school districts. We are pleased to develop this project and advance solar in the state of Georgia as part of Georgia Power’s REDI program.”

In November 2019, the company announced it entered into a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Georgia Power, an investor-owned public utility that serves approximately 2.7 million customers.

The project connects more than 650,000 solar panels, which together covers an area of about 1,800 acres. The integration of a state-of-the-art DC-coupled storage system allows the project’s energy yield to be optimized and increase the predictability of injection of locally produced electricity into the Georgia Power grid.

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Ben Catt

Generate Capital, a sustainable infrastructure investment and operating platform, has made a strategic growth investment in Pine Gate Renewables, a renewable energy developer for utility-scale solar and storage. The investment includes a $200 million equity investment and an additional $300 million commitment to a long-term asset partnership for solar project financing.

The investment will provide Pine Gate with additional capital to fund construction and development of renewable energy projects and meet other general working capital purposes. Generate will also join Pine Gate’s board of directors.

Pine Gate owns and operates over 1 GW of renewable energy projects. The company has more than 20 GW in active development projects throughout the United States and has raised over $1 billion in corporate and project capital financing in the past six months.

“Pine Gate is thrilled to be partnering with Generate to accelerate the growth of our business,” says Ben Catt, CEO of Pine Gate. “Generate is a collaborative, experienced partner and shares Pine Gates’ long-term vision of driving the energy transition and improving energy security by providing solar energy and battery storage to local communities across the country. Pine Gate is well-positioned as we continue to expand our national presence.”

“Solar is the world’s most affordable source of energy today and is a significant opportunity for Generate as utilities adapt to the strong demand from customers for more renewable resources,” states Scott Jacobs, CEO and co-founder of Generate. “The Pine Gate team has a strong track record of execution and growth and an innovative operating model that enables them to move fast to build projects across important solar and storage markets. We are excited to partner with this best-in-class team and support Pine Gate’s continued expansion and market leadership.”

The transaction was facilitated by Foley & Lardner LLP as legal adviser for Generate, and DNV GL as technical adviser. For Pine Gate, Lazard Ltd. served as financial adviser and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP as legal adviser.

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Agilitas Energy has reached milestones for two Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) projects in its pipeline. The company has completed the construction of its largest utility-scale, coupled solar PV and battery energy storage system in Auburn, Mass. Now in commercial operation, the project consists of a 7.3 MW direct current (DC) solar array and a 3.6 MW/9.5 MWh energy storage system. Several hundred organizations have signed long-term power purchase agreements that guarantee energy savings for the next two decades.

Agilitas Energy has also acquired a construction-ready, front-of-the-meter PV and energy storage project in Hopkinton that will serve Eversource with a 5.8 MW DC solar array and 4 MW/9 MWh of storage capacity. As part of the project, Agilitas Energy will set aside more than 45 acres of open space for permanent conservation, and will donate more than $10,000 for the construction of a parking area to support access to the trail network on site.

Located in Auburn and Hopkinton, both projects are classified as Community Solar Programs; they will participate in ISO-New England markets, and generate Massachusetts Clean Peak Certificates.

“Programs like SMART make a noticeable difference in empowering cost-effective solar development, and we’re confident these projects will help bring predictable, low-cost, clean energy to the communities that need it – other states should look to replicate what Massachusetts has done,” says Barrett Bilotta, president of Agilitas Energy. “Along those lines, we’re proud of the solar and storage projects we’ve built in our home state and across New England, and with our recent capital raise, we’re looking to replicate our success with utilities and municipalities throughout the U.S.”

The company recently raised $350 million of equity in a two-tiered investment from CarVal Investors L.P., financing that will fund a national build-out of Agilitas Energy’s pipeline of renewable energy and battery storage systems. Agilitas Energy is actively constructing or developing several other coupled solar PV and energy storage projects under the SMART program in various towns across the Commonwealth.

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Another GenPro Energy project in Nebraska, the Hastings Community Solar Project

The City of Norfolk and Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) are celebrating the end of the construction phase for the largest solar farm in the state, which is paired with the NPPD’s first large-scale battery storage system. The 8.5 MW solar + battery storage system is developed and operated by solar energy developer Sol Systems in partnership with EPC firm GenPro Energy Solutions and real estate development firm Mesner Development.

The array is part of NPPD’s community solar program, SunWise, allowing local Norfolk residents to purchase clean energy produced from the array at a fixed price to offset normal retail electricity. Sol Systems and NPPD entered a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for the energy of the array.

“The Norfolk community solar facility is going into operation, and it is great to officially celebrate the completion of the state’s largest solar facility,” says Brittney Koenig, NPPD’s account manager. “Norfolk customers who have signed up for community solar shares began to see a credit on their bill starting in June.”

“We’re excited to officially launch this project,” comments City of Norfolk Mayor Josh Moenning. “Participating community members will soon be able to utilize affordable, locally generated clean energy for the first time in this form and fashion. We’re proud to have worked collaboratively with NPPD and the private sector to provide the opportunity. It adds to our quality of life.”

The large-scale battery storage system is capable of storing up to 2 MWh worth of electricity produced by the solar farm. This will allow NPPD to store solar energy for flexible discharge times, like summer evenings or winter morning during its grid peak times.

During construction, the project site was planted with pollinator habitats to support local bee and butterfly populations. Prairie flowers and grasses will build up a thriving native habitat, stabilizing and supporting soil health while providing habitat for species at risk.

“Sol Systems is proud to be a part of this solar + storage project with NPPD and the City of Norfolk because it fully captures what is at the core of Sol’s mission,” states Anna Toenjes, senior director of business development at Sol Systems. “The project will service this community with clean, renewable energy for decades while creating strong community impact through our scholarship work with NECC. In addition, I am personally proud to have been a part of an all-female team at Sol that led the contract negotiations, development and financing of this solar + storage project.”

In addition to the energy and educational benefits of the array, Sol Systems partnered with Northeast Community College (NECC) to establish three scholarships for students interested in the school’s Electrical Construction and Control Program. The scholarships, which cover two years of tuition for students, were awarded this spring. In further partnership with NECC, internships with GenPro were established for students already enrolled in the Electrical Construction and Control Program, providing them with hands-on experience helping to construct the array.

“As the EPC that has constructed the most municipal solar arrays in the State of Nebraska, it is really important that we can give back to the communities we serve,” mentions Molly Brown, EVP of corporate strategy at GenPro. “Education is at the core of who we are, and the partnership with NECC allowed us to train the next generation of solar electricians. We need more skilled labor as this industry continues to grow.”

“We are proud to be part of the ongoing effort to develop clean energy in Nebraska,” says Cliff Mesner, owner of Mesner Development. “Our mission is to provide every Nebraska community with the opportunity for high quality, affordable clean energy integrated with local public power districts and municipal utilities.  We believe in public power and we are inspired by the leadership in Norfolk, Neb.”

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Part of Astoria Generating Station. Image: wikimedia user tim1337

Approval has been granted for construction of a large-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) at the site of an existing fossil fuel power plant in New York.

Last week, New York State Public Service Commission approved an application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity, filed by power plant owner Astoria Generation for construction of a 135MW BESS at the site of Astoria Generating Station, a 959MW fuel oil and natural gas plant.

Astoria Generation is a subsidiary of power producer Eastern Generation and the three power plant sites in Astoria’s portfolio provide around 18% of New York City’s power generation capacity. Eastern Generation is an affiliate of private equity investment firm ArcLight.

The company plans to put a total 350MW of battery storage at Astoria Generating Station in the borough of Queens and at its Golwanus and Narrows power plant sites in Brooklyn.

Eastern Generation is calling the three energy storage plants collectively the Luyster Creek Energy Storage Project, starting with the one at Astoria.

New York State Public Service Commission found that the project will help reduce the state’s reliance on fossil fuels including oil and gas-fuelled peaker plants, which often run for only a few hours a year but are among the most polluting resources on the grid.

They are also expensive to maintain and subject to fuel cost volatility, and various efforts are ongoing around New York to retire and replace peaker plants with renewables and storage, notably in Long Island, which has 2.3GW of peakers, including some that run on kerosene, out of the state’s total of about 6GW.

The Commission said the Astoria battery project is expected be operational by 2024, and will trade in the wholesale market, generating revenues on a merchant basis rather than through long-term contracts.

Eastern Generation CEO Mark Sudbey, the entire Luyster Creek Energy Storage Project trio could be completed and commissioned by 2025, “if market conditions permit and proper economic incentive investments are made by the state,” Sudbey said.

New York’s electricity grid and wholesale market operator New York ISO (NYISO) recently said that changes it is making to wholesale market rules are aimed at enabling wider market participation, and therefore higher revenues, for energy storage.

The state has in place a 6GW energy storage deployment target by 2030 to enable 70% renewable energy penetration on the grid by that year.

In combination with planned investments in transmission infrastructure, battery systems like Astoria can allow Downstate New York’s more densely populated areas to benefit from renewable energy installed in the less populated Upstate areas.

Existing, decommissioned and planned-for-retirement fossil fuel sites offer an opportunity to develop battery storage, one of the primary reasons being the available land and more importantly grid interconnection agreements as well as being easier to permit for construction on. A couple of such projects have already been built in California already and several are planned in Australia too.

‘Energy storage is vital for New York’

There is also an environmental justice angle to the siting of the new battery plant: New York City’s fossil fuel power plants are disproportionately located in or near poorer or disadvantaged neighbourhoods and communities of colour.

Case in point was Charles Poletti Power Plant, on a site adjacent to Astoria Generating Station in Queens. A natural gas and oil-powered peaker plant named after a former governor of the state was among New York’s biggest sources of pollution before it was decommissioned in 2014.

The land it sat on is owned by the New York Public Power Authority (NYPA), a public-benefit corporation which supplies around a quarter of the state’s electricity.

A 100MW/400MWh BESS will be built at that site too.

NYPA is leasing the necessary land to utility Con Edison, which in turn has contracted Hanwha Group-owned developer 174 Power Global to build. Approval for that was granted by the New York State Public Service Commission last July, as reported by Energy-Storage.news.

NYPA is itself looking to replace its own fleet of peaker plants with cleaner alternatives, with the expectation this will involve battery storage. The utility issued a request for proposals (RfP) in April.

After a gradual start, utility-scale energy storage deployment is gathering pace in New York. Most recently, current Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced the award of contracts for 159MW of battery storage co-located at solar power plants.

As of the end of 2021, the New York Department of Public Service said 1,230MW of storage was deployed, contracted or awarded in New York, but noted that there were 12GW of new projects in interconnection queues.

“Energy storage is vital to building flexibility into the grid and advancing Governor Hochul’s ambitious clean energy goals,” Commission chair Rory M. Christian said as the permitting decision for the Astoria project was announced on 16 June.

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A render of one of the BESS projects. Image: Mitsubishi Power.

Mitsubishi Power is entering the European energy storage market with four BESS projects totalling 371MWh for ION Renewables in Ireland.

The power solutions arm of the large Japanese conglomerate has entered into an exclusive agreement with developer ION Renewables to provide its Emerald solution for the four battery energy storage system (BESS) projects, which will total 185.5MW/371MWh.

The two-hour projects are set to come online in 2024 and will provide frequency and capacity services to Ireland’s national grid, operated by Eirgrid, through its Secure Sustainable Electric System (DS3) framework. All four are brownfield sites with existing grid connections.

The Emerald solution can have up to six hours’ duration, and includes project engineering, equipment supply, and a 10-year long-term service agreement.

John Ward, director, ION Renewables, said: “These installations represent a viable and economical solution to balance the network, strongly aligning with the principles of the REPowerEU draft directive. These projects demonstrate that effective solutions for storing energy can be achieved by utilizing renewable power that would otherwise be curtailed.”

Ireland is targeting a renewable energy mix of 70% by 2030 and the BESS projects will help to integrate more renewables on the grid. Frequency response services well-suited to batteries have made Ireland a relatively advanced market for battery energy storage relative to its size.

The island – as both the Republic and Northern Ireland share a grid, they can be categorised as one energy market – is set to have 1,400MW of BESS installed by the end of this year, according to research firm Delta-EE. However, the firm expects annual deployments to fall over the next few years from a high of c.750MW in 2021 to c.250MW from 2025 onwards, partially because of a new interconnection planned with France.

In an exclusive interview with Energy-Storage.news in April, Mitsubishi Power’s senior VP for energy storage solutions Thomas Cornell said 2022 would be the year in which the energy storage sector would diversify across the globe, having been dominated in 2021 by a handful of countries and US states. The firm recently secured an order for its Emerald solution, similar in size to ION’s, in Chile.

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First Solar Inc. has signed a framework agreement with National Grid Renewables for 2 GW DC of thin film photovoltaic (PV) solar modules. Scheduled for delivery in 2024 and 2025 throughout the United States, the contracted modules are part of First Solar’s advanced Cadmium Telluride (CadTel) thin film module technology platform.

Over the past decade, National Grid Renewables and First Solar have partnered on multiple projects, including the recently operational 200 MW Prairie Wolf Solar Project in Illinois, and the currently under construction Noble Solar (275 MW) and Storage (125 MWh) Project in Texas.

“National Grid Renewables and First Solar share more than just deep roots in the U.S. Midwest and a longstanding strategic partnership. We share a common view on the need to create a sustainable energy future,” states Nathan Franzen, vice president of development for National Grid Renewables. “We’re pleased to be working with First Solar as we continue on our mission to deploy clean, economically beneficial and community-focused solar energy projects, powered by responsibly produced American solar technology.”

“As America’s solar company, we’re proud of the fact that National Grid Renewables has, once again, selected our technology to power its mission to repower rural American communities,” says Georges Antoun, chief commercial officer at First Solar. “Experienced project developers and owner-operators like National Grid Renewables understand the criticality of both, insulating themselves from pricing and supply volatility, and staying true to their values and principles. Both factors are invaluable in helping them successfully navigate some of the industry’s headwinds.”

First Solar is investing $680 million in expanding America’s domestic PV solar manufacturing capacity by 3.3 GW annually, by building its third U.S. manufacturing facility, in Lake Township, Ohio. The new facility is expected to be commissioned in the first half of 2023 and when fully operational will scale the company’s Northwest Ohio footprint to a total annual capacity of 6 GW.

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Sean Finnerty

Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) has started construction on the 100 MW DC / 80 MW AC CPV Stagecoach Solar facility, located near Andersonville, Ga. Constructed by Vanguard Energy Partners, it is expected to be fully operational in early 2024.

CPV Stagecoach Solar is CPV’s second solar project in Macon County, Ga. About 600 acres of formerly agricultural land will be the future home of CPV’s Stagecoach Solar. The project is expected to produce around 190,000 MWh a year.

“We have very aggressive renewable development goals at the national and state levels that simply can’t afford a protracted delay in renewable power deployments,” says Sean Finnerty, CPV’s executive vice president. “We are proud of the role we play in helping to modernize the U.S. power system to a lower carbon, reliable future, but we can’t get there without an investable regulatory framework.”

“We are encouraged by the Administration’s dual solution by providing immediate tariff relief while simultaneously accelerating American solar manufacturing,” mentions Mike Seelman, executive vice president at Vanguard. “These combined initiatives will allow us to expand our workforce nationally as we partner with CPV and our other clients in creating a more sustainable and equitable energy future.”

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The projects combine 143MW of solar PV with 80MWh of storage. Image: Flickr.

Matrix Renewables, the platform backed by private equity firm TPG, has secured tax equity financing of US$92 million for two solar-plus-storage projects in California with 80MWh of energy storage.

The tax equity financing is being provided by Bank of America, first covered by Energy-Storage.news‘ sister site PV Tech. Tax equity financing means an investment by a passive equity investor looking to achieve an internal rate of return (IRR) based mainly on US federal income tax benefits from a particular asset class, in this case renewable energy.

The financing is going to the Gaskell West 2 and 3 projects in Kern County, California, which are set to come online in late 2022. They total 143MWdc of solar PV with 80MWh of attached lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity.

The two projects hold five long term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with utilities and cities in California, Matrix said.

Most energy storage projects in California garner revenue through PPAs, specifically long-term resource adequacy (RA) power supply agreements with investor-owned utilities and community choice aggregators (CCAs), as well as merchant wholesale energy trading and a small amount of grid ancillary services.

Martrix acquired the Gaskell West 2 and 3 projects from Recurrent Energy, the development arm of another large module manufacturer Canadian Solar, last month. Recurrent Energy sold Gaskell West 1 to developer Southern Power in 2018.

Canadian Solar subsidiary CSI solar will provide a turnkey battery storage solution, including the supply, installation and commission of the system.

The Gaskell sites are Matrix’s first foray into the US market, with the company having previously focused on Europe, mainly Spain and Italy, and South America. It is also its second major announced project with a storage component, after committing to invest in three solar sites totalling 150MW with storage in Huelva, Spain, in February last year.

Madrid-based Matrix Renewables was formed in 2020 when TPG, through its impact investment arm The Rise Fund, acquired 1GW of solar PV projects from one of the largest module manufacturers in the world, Trina Solar. You can read PV Tech‘s coverage of the deal here.

The company was advised on the financing deal by CohnReznick Capital and Norton Rose Fulbright.

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Battery storage and solar array at Google’s Saint-Ghislain data centre complex in Belgium. Image: Google / Centrica Business Solutions.

Carbon-free energy power purchase agreements (PPAs) signed by Google and a California community energy group could be a widely replicable model for other supply deals, Energy-Storage.news has heard.

California community choice aggregator (CCA) electricity supplier Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) announced last week that it has signed PPAs with the technology giant that matches Google’s local energy demand 24/7 with clean energy production.

Google is targeting carbon emissions-free running of its operations by 2030 and, like SCVE is headquartered in California, which has a state policy goal of 100% carbon-free electricity by 2045.  

SCVE meanwhile is a community-owned energy agency which provides energy to members in six California jurisdictions. The 10-year deal will see SVCE serving the load of Google’s Mountain View and Sunnyvale offices to match demand with carbon-free energy for at least 92% of hours a year.

SCVE told Energy-Storage.news the agreement includes supply from multiple power purchase agreements (PPAs).  

Energy storage is a vital component of the deal and the resource mix involved, Don Bray, director of energy services and community relations for SVCE, told Energy-Storage.news.

“While SVCE and Google transition to a dedicated set of resources, Google’s load will be met with wind, solar-plus-storage, geothermal and other carbon-free resources,” Bray said, with this evolving over time.

“Ultimately, Google’s load will be met with 24×7 carbon-free resources comprised of wind, solar-plus-storage, geothermal and standalone storage resources.”

The office buildings have been designed with a high level of electrification of their infrastructure in place already and Google itself has behind-the-meter solar and storage and other distributed energy resources (DERs), which will also be optimised to meet its carbon-free energy (CFE) needs, according to Bray.

“[Energy] storage, both front-of-the-meter and behind-the-meter will play an instrumental role in meeting Google’s CFE targets,” Bray said, adding that SVCE and Google together “intend to deploy [renewables] paired and standalone storage of varying discharge durations”.

SVCE believes this is a deal that can be replicated not only across Google’s other facilities but could be used by the energy supplier to create retail electricity offerings of a similar nature for other commercial customers.

It hinges on Google’s 24/7 CFE methodology, which the tech company published in February 2021, following the 2020 announcement of its carbon-free target. While the company already achieved net zero carbon in 2007 and by 2017 had matched 100% of its consumption with renewable energy purchases, it now aims to operate solely on CFE at its data centres and campuses all-year round.

“This agreement with SVCE allows us to both decarbonise our energy supply at Google, while also giving SVCE the opportunity to test innovative strategies to decarbonise all their customers,” Google head of energy and carbon Asim Tahir said.

“The SVCE 24/7 carbon-free energy service with Google serves as a model for how large commercial energy customers and energy providers can work together to further advance clean, carbon-free electricity on the grid, coupled with electrification efforts in the local community. This type of forward-thinking collaboration is a real difference-maker in our full-scale transition from fossil fuels to clean electricity,” SVCE’s CEO, Girish Balachandran said.

Google’s interest in energy storage extends to long-duration

Related developments for Google include a deal for round-the-clock clean energy to power its data centre operations in Virginia from a US$600 million, 500MW portfolio of wind, solar, hydro and battery storage.

That deal, struck with power and renewables company AES Corporation would make its facilities in the southeastern US state run on carbon-free power 90% of the time, from a mix of AES-owned and third-party assets, AES said at the time.

In September that year, sister site PV Tech reported that Google had signed a three-year, 140MW agreement with European utility company Engie, for energy from a portfolio of storage-backed wind and solar in Germany, which likewise fell under the 24/7 CFE remit.

Also in Europe, energy storage system (ESS) provider Fluence – which is part-owned by AES – supplied battery storage at a Google data centre in Belgium. The trial deployment, which enables the data centre to eliminate reliance on diesel backup generators, could likewise be a model for replication elsewhere, according to Google.

Incidentally, Silicon Valley Clean Energy might be a familiar name to regular readers of this site. As well as being among California’s CCAs which are signing contracts for energy from clean energy resources, particularly solar-plus-storage, at a significant scale, SVCE is also among a group of CCAs that have signed contracts for large-scale, long-duration energy storage (LDES) resources.

Two lithium-ion battery storage projects, each with a duration of eight hours, will be built to help the CCAs meet procurement goals for LDES mandated by the California Energy Commission (CEC), designed to help the state ensure reliable electricity supply and to come online for the 2025-2026 timeframe.  

SVCE’s Don Bray said the agreement with Google is for resources that will be built with the search engine company’s CFE requirements in mind.

“As such, contracts signed through CC Power [the group to which SVCE belongs] for long-duration storage will not be used to meet Googles 24×7 goals,” Bray said.

However, SVCE and Google will, Bray said, “determine how or when to best incorporate long-duration storage over the next five to 10 years,” into the agreement.

Earlier this year, Google, along with Microsoft and other major corporates, became members of the global Long Duration Energy Storage Council (LDES Council).

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