IPP Arevon has been given the green light for the construction and operation of a standalone 200MW/800MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) facility in Los Angeles County, California through the California Environmental Equality Act (CEQA) review process.
The review was administered by the City of Carson which, in the position of lead agency, held principal responsibility for the process and ultimate approval of the Avocet Energy Storage project.
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
Potential for ‘significant effect’ on the surrounding environment
Projects requiring discretionary approvals from government agencies, such as land amendments and use permits, which have the potential to cause an impact on the surrounding environment are subject to the CEQA review process.
The lead agency will first prepare an Initial Study (IS) to determine whether the new project could have a “significant effect” on the environment, defined by CEQA Section 15382 as “a substantial, or potentially substantial, adverse change in any of the physical conditions within the area affected by the project including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of historic or aesthetic significance.”
If the lead agency decides the project won’t have a significant effect on the environment, it will publish a Notice of Determination (ND) approving construction of the project.
If it is decided that the project could have a significant effect on its surroundings, the lead agency will produce an Environmental Impact Report (EIR). This document typically takes over a year to produce and outlines the potential effects of the project, measures to mitigate these impacts, and analysis of project alternatives.
Expedited CEQA review process
Instead of a potentially lengthy environmental review process, a lead agency and developer can work together to reduce the environmental impacts of a project to a less than significant level.
The lead agency will outline these revisions agreed upon by the developer in a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), which is posted online alongside the IS that is then subject to a public comment period.
If the lead agency doesn’t receive any comments containing evidence of the project having a potentially significant impact, it will issue an ND approving construction of the project, which was filed by the City of Carson for Arevon’s Avocet project on August 6 2024.
The City of Carson concluded the project would have a ‘less than significant impact’ on the surrounding area, with mitigation measures in place.
The project will be located between an industrial gas facility from Air Products and a petroleum coke handling facility from Marathon, as shown in the render at the top of this article.
200MW/800MWh connecting to the CAISO grid
The IS and MND report describe the Avocet Energy Storage project as a 200MW/800MWh standalone BESS located at 23320 Alameda Street in the City of Carson, California.
Interconnection to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) grid will be via Southern California Edison’s (SCE’s) Hinson 230kV substation through a single gen-tie line.
Arevon has already secured an interconnection agreement for the project with CAISO and SCE that was processed as part of the California system operator’s Cluster 12 process (queue no. 1608).
The IS and MND report outlining further project information can be found here, with mitigation measures found on page 151-160: Chapter 4 – Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program.
Battery supply agreement and power offtaker secured
The Avocet project is one of Arevon’s most developed pipeline projects, with the developer having also secured a battery supply agreement with Tesla along with a power offtake agreement with California community choice aggregator (CCA) San Diego Community Power (SDCP).
Under the terms of a 15-year energy storage services agreement (ESSA), SDCP will pay Arevon a fixed price for capacity—adjusted for availability and verified capacity—commencing 15 April 2026.
The agreement was unanimously approved by SDCP’s Board of Directors at a regular meeting held on 16 November 2023. The agenda packet containing further details on the agreement can be found here.
Arevon also disclosed in a recent press release that Tesla would be supplying its Megapacks for the project.
Extensive California BESS portfolio
Arevon has an extensive BESS portfolio in California at various stages of development, including its 200MW/800MWh Condor Storage facility located in San Bernardino County that was recently cleared for commercial operations, as reported by Energy.Storage-News last week.
It also includes a larger 300MW/1,200MWh BESS located in San Diego County known as the Nighthawk Storage facility, which is under construction according to the developer’s website.
Arevon has secured a 15-year resource adequacy agreement for power offtake from the project with California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E).
