California set to be home to another 100MW battery project

Californian local power purchasing authority Clean Power Alliance announced last week that it had signed its first Energy Storage Agreement for the 100MW Luna Storage standalone battery storage project, set to be owned and operated by the Salt Lake City headquartered independent power producer sPower.

Clean Power Alliance (CPA) bills itself as “Southern California’s locally operated electricity provider across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, offering clean renewable energy at competitive rates.” Serving approximately three million customers and one million customer accounts, CPA purchases clean power from Southern California Edison (SCE) – the primary electricity supplier for Southern California.

Announced last week and furthering its commitment to invest in local clean energy, CPA signed its first Energy Storage Agreement (ESA) – the largest such deal by a local power purchasing authority, or ‘community-choice aggregator’ (CCA) in California.

The 15-year ESA went from bid to contract execution in less than six months following a requirement placed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that CPA procure at least 98.4MW of new capacity by 2021. Similar requirements for 2022 and 2023 will be fulfilled by future agreement already under negotiation.

This first ESA will secure power from the Luna Storage project being developed in the City of Lancaster, within Los Angeles County, a 100MW/400MWh standalone lithium-ion battery storage project which will be owned and operated by sPower.

Expected to be operational by August 2021, the Luna Storage project will allow CPA to “cost-effectively” integrate intermittent renewable energy resources into the grid while also helping to enable the closure of gas-fired power plants currently located in CPA’s local communities.

The project, valued at more than $US100 million ($A157 million), is expected to create as many as 50 union construction jobs.

“Clean Power Alliance is excited to be advancing our clean energy goals during this difficult time,” said Ted Bardacke, Executive Director, Clean Power Alliance. “By fast tracking projects like Luna Storage, we are fighting climate change while investing in our community and creating jobs right when they are needed the most.”

“sPower is committed to helping CPA and other CCAs achieve their clean energy future. We operate more than 1,200 MW of solar generation in California and are excited to partner with CPA to add new energy storage to the supply mix,” said Hans Isern, Senior Vice President of Power Marketing, sPower.

“This project will improve grid-resiliency and employ hardworking LA County union members, including those from the IBEW, Ironworkers, LiUNA and others.”