Clearway Energy has pushed two large solar and storage projects into operation in California. The announcement was made on the same day as an industry letter asking Congress to reform siting, permitting, and transmission before this year’s elections.
Clearway said yesterday (17 April) that it has put the Victory Pass and Arica solar and storage projects in Riverside County into service.
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The two projects are separate but located at the same site and represent a combined 463MW of solar PV and 186MW of battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity. The MWh (megawatt-hours) capacity wasn’t revealed, but California projects are typically 4-hour systems, equating to 744MWh of storage in this case.
Both projects have long-term contracts in place with utilities, both for-profit and non-profit. Victory Pass is contracted with Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) and Central Coast Community Energy (3CE) while Arica is contracted with Clean Power Alliance (CPA), Peninsula Clean Energy (PCE), MCE, Southern California Edison (SCE), NRG Energy, and consumer brand conglomerate PepsiCo.
Its announcement comes on the same day as 200 solar and storage companies co-signed a letter to congressional leaders urging new legislation to reform and improve permitting, project siting, transmission, and public lands for solar and storage projects.
The letter asked for action before this year’s Presidential elections in November and was sent by trade body Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), whose CEO Abigail Ross Hopper commented:
“There are hundreds of billions of investment dollars that depend on our ability to get clean energy projects sited, permitted and efficiently connected to a modern transmission system.”
“Lawmakers in both parties understand the importance of getting new energy infrastructure built quickly and efficiently. Now is the time for policy action to strengthen America’s energy industry and support local economies with jobs and private investments.”
See deeper coverage of the letter’s contents on our sister site PV Tech.
