Ameresco and SCE agree completion for two of three California BESS projects, liquidated damages still loom

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Clean energy system integrator Ameresco and utility Southern California Edison (SCE) have agreed on damages to be paid for two battery energy storage system (BESS) projects out of a three-project order, though liquidated damages related to a substantial delay in commissioning are still being negotiated.

SCE will pay Ameresco approximately US$110 million within seven days for the milestone completion of the BESS projects. However, this reflects a set-off of liquidated damages, which are still in dispute, as well as additional work costs.

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

Final acceptance payments will follow upon the projects’ completion. The third and final project in the order is expected to reach substantial completion in Q4 2024.

Energy-Storage.news first reported that SCE was considering withholding liquidated damages from Ameresco in July this year (Premium access article).

The projects totalling 537.5MW/2,150MWh were meant to come online in August 2022 but have been delayed by over two years. The contract value for Ameresco was US$1.226 billion.

Ameresco issued SCE with a ‘force majeure’ claim in 2022, citing the shutdown of factories in Beijing due to Covid-19 lockdowns.

The projects are located at three distribution-level substation parcels in SCE’s service territory to provide for the electricity demands in the San Joaquin Valley, the Long Beach area and Rancho Cucamonga and nearby communities. They were specifically procured in light of emergency reliability risks due to extended drought, wildfire and heatwaves in California.

In other BESS activity, Ameresco recently completed 313MWh of projects for a utility in Colorado and landed its first job in the UK, a 624MWh project for developer Atlantic Green.

Read Next

April 30, 2025
NYSERDA has launched a programme to incentivise residential and retail energy storage in the state, offering a total of US$775 million for energy storage projects.
April 29, 2025
A panel discussed the impact of CAISO’s interconnection reforms at last month’s Energy Storage Summit USA 2025 in Dallas.
April 28, 2025
Flow battery startup Quino Energy and developer Long Hill Energy Partners have been awarded US$10 million in grant funding by the California Energy Commission (CEC) to support a 8MWh flow battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Lancaster, California, US.
April 28, 2025
Trina Storage has partnered with system integrator FlexGen on a 371MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project for developer SMT Energy in Houston, Texas, US.    
Premium
April 25, 2025
ESN Premium speaks with Travis Torrey, CTO of Storion Energy on tariffs, vanadium supply chains and costs.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter