230MW BESS comes online at Bureau of Land Management site in California

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

A 230MW battery energy storage system (BESS) from NextEra Energy Resources, part of a large solar-plus-storage project, has come online in California.

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which manages the land on which the 94-acre project is located in Riverside County, announced the start of commercial operations on the Desert Sunlight Battery Energy Storage System yesterday (16 August).

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

The 230MW BESS project adjoins the existing Desert Sunlight Solar Farm and will store renewable energy generated by the Farm and shift it to peak demand hours.

In a document approving the project in November last year, BLM said the project developer was Sunlight Storage, LLC, a subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources, which appears to have been very quiet on the project.

An SEC filing from the Fortune 500 company, referring to the project as the Sunlight Storage Facility, said it is a 230MW/920MWh system. A four-hour duration is a requirement for projects in California to provide energy to utilities through Resource Adequacy, the framework by which grid operator CAISO ensures supply can meet demand, and the main revenue stream for BESS projects.

The project’s commissioning is good news for the state after something of a slowdown in BESS deployments in the lead-up to the peak summer season, when the heightened risk of wildfires can also threaten grid reliability and increase the chance of outages.

As of the end of July, CAISO had 3,334MW of grid-scale BESS in commercial operation according to its official data (which can be changed retrospectively if a unit’s commercial operation date is announced significantly after the fact).

It is not clear if these figures include the Desert Sunlight BESS, which it might do if it is announcing its commercial operation late, for example. Assuming not, this brings the BESS count in California to nearly 3,600MW. If Ameresco’s 537.5MW/2,150MWh projects for utility SCE had not been delayed, as reported by Energy-Storage.news, the figure may have been over 4,000MW by now, the grid operator’s stated aim.

The BLM is the US government body responsible for administering federal lands, a key figure in approving projects located within its portfolio. Recent significant solar-plus-storage projects it has waived through include a 250MW project by Revolve Renewable Power and a 500MW project by Oberon Solar, both covered by our sister site PV Tech.

The agency is also encouraging projects to be built on its land, most recently issuing a solicitation for utility-scale solar projects on 90,000 acres of public land across Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico.

11 November 2025
San Diego, USA
The 2024 Summit included innovative new features including a ‘Crash Course in Battery Asset Management’, Ask-Me-Anything formats and debate-style sessions. You can expect to meet and network with all the key industry players again in 2025 from major US asset owners, operators, RTOs and ISOs, optimizers, software and analytics providers, technical consultancies, O&M technology providers and more.

Read Next

Premium
July 1, 2025
As US Senators vote on the tax reconciliation bill, experts Jessica Dunn of Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and Tonja L. Wicks of esVolta discuss its potential impact.
July 1, 2025
Moment Energy’s battery energy storage system (BESS) manufacturing hub in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, has reached full-scale production.
July 1, 2025
Battery energy storage system (BESS) developer Giga Storage has acquired a 350MW/1,400MWh BESS asset in Germany, marking an expansion into the broader European energy storage market.
July 1, 2025
Alinta Energy has approved the development of the first stage of its Reeves Plains Energy Hub BESS in South Australia.
June 30, 2025
Globeleq and African Rainbow Energy have reached commercial close on the 612MWh Red Sands BESS in South Africa.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter