Developer Arevia Power has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for a large solar-plus-storage project in Nevada, US, with local utility NV Energy.
The companies have agreed the PPA for the Libra Solar project, which will combine 700MWac of solar PV and a 700MW/2,800MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) targeting commercial operation by the end of 2027.
It will require US$2.3 billion in investment and will be among the largest solar-plus-storage projects in the US, and the largest in the state, Arevia said.
Libra Solar will be located about 20 miles south of the Fort Churchill substation in Yerington, near the border between Mineral County and Lyon County.
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It will span 5,141 acres of land in Mineral Country while most of the generation tie line will be in Lyon County.
US representative for Nevada’s 4th congressional district Steven Horsford commented: “The signing of the power purchase agreement for the Libra Solar project marks a pivotal moment in our fight against climate change. This transformative project will not only generate an unprecedented amount of solar energy and battery storage but will also create over 1,000 good jobs and drive economic growth in Mineral County.”
The project is set to be approved as part of Berkshire Hathaway-owned NV Energy’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) which includes three major solar-plus-storage PPAs totalling over 1GW of capacity, of which Libra Solar is the largest.
The projects will help NV Energy meet Nevada’s renewable energy deployment targets as well as control costs for customers, while helping the utility meet peak demand load.
Arevia was advised by Patrick Groomes and Brenda Hanzl, who also advised Arevia in its prior negotiations with NV Energy on the 690 MW Gemini solar-plus-storage project, for which it also has a long-term PPA in place.
The utility also recently put a 440MWh standalone BESS project, integrated by Energy Vault, into commercial operation, and last year launched a request for proposals (RFP) for renewable and energy storage resources.
Nevada along with other desert Southwest states is quickly becoming as active an energy storage market as the US’ leading states of Texas and California, with utilities signing long-term PPAs for developers of large-scale projects making it easier to get financing for construction.
Projects in Nevada can also serve the comparatively larger California energy market, with the entire contiguous US West’s 14 states interconnected via the Western Interconnection grid area. EDF Renewables North America and California utility SCPPA signed a PPA for 780MWh, solar-plus-storage project in Nevada in February, for example.
