Two New Projects Add 1.35 GW of Solar-Battery Capacity to California Grid
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Clean energy developer Arevon Energy has launched work on the 300-MW/1,200-MWhour Nighthawk Energy Storage Project, a lithium iron phosphate battery storage system to serve the San Diego metro area. San Jose builder Rosendin is EPC contractor for the estimated $600-million project, set to operate next year.
Power developer Arevon Energy Inc. is betting big on renewable energy and battery storage in southern California, starting and completing construction this month on two projects totaling 1.35 GW of capacity and $2.6 billion of investment—including one of the largest such combined installations in the U.S.
The company has launched work on the 300-MW/1,200-MWhour Nighthawk Energy Storage Project, a lithium iron phosphate battery storage system to serve Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers in the San Diego metro area. San Jose builder Rosendin is EPC contractor for the estimated $600-million project set to operate next year that will link solar and wind energy to a substation on the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar base, Arevon said.
Construction is expected to employ more than 130 workers at peak, it added.
“Nighthawk and other utility-scale battery systems allow electricity to be stored during low demand periods and then efficiently discharged onto the grid, responding quickly at high demand and vital periods,” said an Arevon spokesperson.
With its start coming six months after a $400-million fire at Vistra Energy’s Moss Landing battery array near Monterey, Arevon CEO Kevin Smith said Nighthawk's project design includes added safety measures “and will comprise the safest and most advanced batteries on the market.”
Arevon has partnered with the Poway, Calif., Fire Dept. to develop a fire prevention and response plan and provide training specific to the Tesla battery packs to be used. Fisher Engineering is providing third-party fire protection engineering analysis. The union-built project, first announced in 2021, is fully permitted and qualifies for domestic content tax credits available under the Inflation Reduction Act, Arevon said.
Solar-Battery Giant
Now starting operation is the completing phase of Arevon’s record-setting $2-billion Eland Solar-plus-Storage Project in Kern County, 80 miles north of Los Angeles. Largest to be built in California and among the largest across the country, it combines 758 MW of solar energy with 300 MW/1,200 MWh of lithium iron phosphate battery storage. Builder SOLV Energy has been EPC contractor for the two-phase project.
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With 1.36 million solar panels and 172 batteries, Eland is set to supply 7% of Los Angeles power under long-term agreements with the Los Angeles Dept. of Water and Power and Glendale Water and Power Dept. The former has committed to a 25-year contract for Eland power, which the LA Times said is valued at $1.5 billion and provides it an option to buy the generator outright, possibly after a decade of operation.
Janisse Quiñones, the LA power agency CEO and chief engineer, said Eland will boost city clean energy supply to 64%, with a goal of 100% by 2035. It “marks an important step forward in our energy transition and commitment,” she said, adding that it is the department's largest solar-battery storage combined project.
Arevon said it owns and operates more than 4.7 GW of solar and energy storage projects in 17 states, including 3.2 MW in California, and is building 1.5 GW more of new capacity.
California already has the most utility-scale battery storage systems nationwide but it is set for a new record, with construction to start this year on what developer Intersect Power said will be the world's largest solar and battery storage project in western Fresno County.
