Renewable energy developer and operator Terra-Gen announced an agreement with Mortenson to proceed on the Edwards & Sanborn solar and energy storage project located in Kern County, Calif. The project consists of 1,118 MW of solar and 2,165 MWh of energy storage. It is currently the largest single solar and battery energy storage project to reach this milestone. The project is Mortenson’s 78th solar project and 11th energy storage project.

“Selecting the right partner to execute a project of this scale coupled with cutting edge battery experience was paramount for Terra-Gen, and Mortenson was a natural fit,” said Brian Gorda, Terra-Gen’s vice president of Engineering. “Terra-Gen is excited to push the industry to new heights and build a plant that provides energy for all hours of demand.”

Details: The Edwards & Sanborn project is located near several operating wind and solar projects in Kern County, California. Mortenson is the full engineering, procurement, and construction contractor on both the solar and energy storage scopes. Site construction will commence in early 2021 with expected completion in late 2022. Solar production on the site will utilize more than 2.5 million modules to produce enough energy to power 260,000 homes in California and energy storage will utilize more than 110,000 lithium-ion battery modules. At peak construction, more than 700 people will be employed on-site at the project.

“The Edwards & Sanborn solar and energy storage project is industry-changing and during this challenging 2020 will redefine the impact these systems will have on our clean energy future,” said Trent Mostaert, Mortenson’s vice president and general manager of Solar. “We are proud to combine our solar and energy storage design and construction expertise with Terra-Gen’s development capabilities to deliver a world-class energy facility.”

Arizona Public Service (APS) has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for 300-400MW of renewables capacity and for energy storage to be retrofitted at its solar plants.

The renewables RFP, which is open to all technologies, has been designed to address peak capacity needs of about 200-300MW per year to maintain reliable electric service during times of highest energy usage. Proposed projects must have in-service dates in either 2023 or 2024.

Separately, APS is requesting a total of 60MW of battery storage additions at two of its existing solar facilities in Arizona: the Red Rock and Chino Valley plants. Proposed projects must begin delivery no later than June 2023.

The news comes after APS announced its plan earlier this year to deliver 100% clean energy by 2050, with an interim target of 65% clean energy by 2030. Brad Albert, APS vice president of resource management, said the company has made “steady progress” since setting those goals.

The utility previously called for the deployment of 850MW of energy storage by 2025 and said it would enlist sustainable infrastructure developer Invenergy to install battery systems at six of its solar PV facilities by 2021. APS said this week it has now executed the agreement after working with Invenergy “to incorporate enhanced safety standards in battery energy storage”. The battery systems are now expected to be operational in early 2022.

While APS announced its clean energy goal back in January, Arizona regulators recently approved measures that will require all utilities in the state to receive all their power from carbon-free sources by 2050. The Arizona Corporation Commission ruling also includes interim carbon reduction targets for regulated utilities of 50% by 2032 and 75% by 2040.

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Arizona is the state with the fourth-highest amount of installed solar in the US, at 4,820MW. The trade body says the state’s solar market has “huge potential”.

Swell Energy, an installer and manager of residential renewable energy, energy efficiency and storage technologies, is raising $450 million to finance the construction of four virtual power plants representing a massive amount of energy storage capacity paired with solar power generation.

It’s a sign of the distributed nature of renewable energy development and a transition from large-scale power generation projects feeding into utility grids at their edge to smaller, point solutions distributed at the actual points of consumption.

The project will pair 200 megawatt hours of distributed energy storage with 100 megawatts of solar photovoltaic capacity, the company said.

Los Angeles-based Swell was commissioned by utilities across three states to establish the dispatchable energy storage capacity, which will be made available through the construction and aggregation of approximately 14,000 solar energy generation and storage systems. The goal is to make local grids more efficient.

To finance these projects — and others the company expects to land — Swell has cut a deal with Ares Management Corp. and Aligned Climate Capital to create a virtual power plant financing vehicle with a target of $450 million.

That financing entity will support the development of power projects like the combined solar and battery agreement nationwide.

Over the next 20 years, Swell is targeting the development of over 3,000 gigawatt hours of clean solar energy production, with customers storing 1,000 gigawatt hours for later use, and dispatching 200 gigawatt hours of this stored energy back to the utility grid.

It has the potential to create a more resilient grid less susceptible to the kinds of power outages and rolling blackouts that have plagued states like California.

The transition towards low carbon, renewable energy generation is building momentum globally. While renewables are expected to contribute significantly towards meeting climate change objectives, the transformation in the way we generate electricity poses challenges to existing energy transmission networks. In this week’s instalment Will Argent, Fund Adviser to the VT Gravis Clean Energy Income Fund discusses. 

Renewable energy generation is intermittent: wind speeds are temperamental and therefore wind generation oscillates, irradiation levels are not always sufficient to deliver solar power generation (and solar generation is ‘offline’ at night), and rainfall patterns (among other factors) impact hydroelectric power generation. 

By contrast, conventional forms of power generation, such from burning fossil fuels or nuclear power plants, generally provide a far more reliable and continuous supply to meet ‘baseload’ power requirements –the minimum amount of power required at any given time. The relative unpredictability of renewable energy generation, combined with its increasingly dominant position in the energy mix, means natural gas and nuclear power stations are needed to help balance the supply and demand requirements of the grid. However, investment in energy storage solutions will provide scope for the full potential of renewables to be harnessed, by capturing output during times of high generation and smoothing the delivery of power to the grid. 

Pumped-Storage Hydroelectricity. The oldest form of large-scale energy storage, the use of pumped-storage hydropower can be traced back to c.1900 in Italy and Switzerland. Two reservoirs at different altitudes are required. When water is released from the upper reservoir it is channelled through a turbine and generator to create electricity. The water is then pumped back from the lower reservoir to the upper reservoir and represents a store of gravitational potential energy until it is released again. Pumped-storage hydropower can provide a dynamic response to balancing grid requirements, offering critical backup during periods of excess demand. 

Could a more reliable, resilient power system result from a project funded by the US Navy Office of Naval Research? Researchers at Stony Brook University, together with the University of Massachusetts Lowell, hope to make that a reality. Another goal is to improve energy generation efficiency, system operation, and storage in microgrids, including those located in shore-based environments.

The two schools will each take on nine distinct research projects to improve grid control, security and infrastructure monitoring, energy storage, materials and grid management, and zero-carbon fuels. The projects will complement each other, and the schools will split the $7.36 million grant. 

The universities expect to develop new training methods to align with those of National Grid and the Long Island Power Authority. The project will run through fall 2022.

“Efficient energy is vital to the security and economic stability of our region and nation,” said Maurie McInnis, president, Stony Brook University.

“This important work will address needs in energy generation, storage and system operation that ensure a secure and efficient future for the nation’s energy systems,” said Jacquie Moloney, chancellor, UMass Lowell.

Others working with the project note that: 

• The timing comes as the energy industry is experiencing more significant technological change than at any time in the last century. 
• Enhancing energy resiliency on the microgrid level is another critical step to advancing energy security and efficiency. 
• The work is a vital part of innovative research in energy resiliency.
• The project brings together energy experts from both universities with industry partners who collaborate to advance energy systems’ next generation. 
• The participants will benefit from the results as the industry continues to develop.