The US development arm of Spain’s Ignis has submitted an application with the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop a 362MWh battery storage facility in Alameda County under the regulatory body’s Opt-In Certification Programme.
The application was submitted to the CEC on February 14 2025 by consultancy firm Jacobs on behalf of Ignis. The application from Ignis follows months of now settled litigation in New York’s Supreme Court with previous owner and development partner, Salka Energy, who both accused each other of various contractual breaches.
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90.7MW/362.8MWh BESS added to wind farm
The application outlines details of Ignis’ Viracocha Hill project – a 90.7MW/362.MWh BESS located nearby the developers yet-to-be-built Sand Hill Wind Repower project in the eastern Altamont Pass area of Alameda County, California.
The application also says the project will comprise 108 Tesla Megapack 2XLs, or similar. In order to maintain the project’s capacity over time, the number of megapacks will increase to 144 at the end of life. Applications need to specify a provider and product, but this doesn’t mean it is set in stone.
The developer holds a California Independent System Operator (CAISO) interconnection agreement for the project which will connect to the grid via Pacific Gas & Electric’s (PG&E’s) Kelso-Tesla 230kV tap (queue number 1461).
Ignis hopes to commence construction on the project no later than the second quarter of 2026 and is aiming commercial operations during the third quarter of 2027.
Defunct wind projects acquired and then sold by Salka Energy
The Viracocha Hill project is an amalgamation of two separate defunct wind farm projects located at the Altamont Pass which Salka acquired from Clearway Energy and sPower (now part of AES Clean Energy) in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
After the Clearway acquisition, Salka immediately sold the development to Ignis and executed a development services agreement (DSA) with the Spanish developer. Under the terms of the DSA, Salka would provide development services for a monthly fee along with an ultimate payment based on the overall profitability of the project. Ignis would also be providing the capital to develop the project.
Following the sPower acquisition, the development was also immediately sold to Ignis. The two parties amended the DSA to also include this second project. As a form of protection for Salka, a clause was included within the DSA stating if Ignis breached any part of the agreement, Salka would be entitled to reacquire the developments.
According to Salka’s 16 May, 2024 complaint against Ignis, the DSA was amended for the second time during the third quarter of 2022 after it was decided to add a BESS to the overall project plans.
As described by Salka within its complaint, the addition of the BESS was significant for the project’s “overall economics, and ultimately, overall profitability.” In light of this addition, Salka’s monthly fee, along with the overall development budget provided by Ignis, was increased.
A provision was also included within the DSA that prevented Ignis from pursuing development of the BESS phase without first reaching an agreement with Salka on how best to move forward. Salka said it did this as action from Ignis without consultation could significantly affect its ability to successfully develop the project, profitability, and ultimate development fee.
Both companies have yet to respond to a request for comment from Energy-Storage.news, and we will update this piece if and when a response is received.
Five months of litigation in New York Supreme Court
According to the complaint, Salka contracted with Jacobs to perform permitting work associated with the BESS during August 2023 that required sign-off from Ignis.
It’s alleged that Ignis refused to sign the agreement after requesting that a new budget for the BESS be agreed upon, leading to work on the BESS phase slowing down.
After repeated requests from Salka to sign the Jacobs agreement, Ignis informed Salka that it had “decided to put on hold the development of the BESS scope until both teams have visibility on how to make this project viable”. Salka also alleged that Ignis requested it be relieved of its obligation to pay the monthly BESS development fee.
During the fall of 2023, relations between the two companies appeared to deteriorate. According to the complaint, the parties met on several occasions to come to a resolution on where to go with the BESS, but were never able to come to an agreement. During this time, Salka stated it had to pay a contractor working on the BESS phase on behalf of Ignis, and was only reimbursed months later.
In February 2024, Ignis entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the BESS phase of the project with California community choice aggregator (CCA) Ava Community Energy.
Salka stated it wasn’t aware of the offtake agreement, and that Ignis had broken the terms of their deal by pursuing development of the BESS without its consent. The complaint states that representatives from the two parties, including senior officers on one occasion, met on several occasions during the first quarter of 2024 to resolve the dispute but were unable to come to a resolution.
As Salka believed Ignis was in breach of the DSA, it requested that the Spanish developer relinquish ownership of the developments. It is alleged that Ignis refused to do this, which led to Salka filing its complaint with the New York Supreme Court.
Investments of US$25 million “without returning anything of value”
Four days after Salka filed its complaint, Ignis filed its own lawsuit against Salka for damages based on breaches of the DSA, gross negligence, and unfair competition.
In response to Salka’s complaint, Ignis filed a motion to dismiss in August 2024 where it accused Salka of developing a project “plagued with unforeseen costs, project design and layout issues, continuous delays, scheduling difficulties, and dubious land procurements”.
Ignis stated that it had invested US$16 million into the project and funded bonds of nearly US$9 million in support of the project “without returning anything of value”.
Ignis’ motion confirmed Salka’s history of events in the most part, but pointed out that the BESS phase was not included within the reacquisition clause, and that the DSA had in fact been terminated.
Ignis stated that on 4 April, 2024, it notified Salka that because notice-to-proceed hadn’t been reached and the entirety of the development budget had already been spent, the DSA stipulated that the parties were now in joint authority of the project. Ignis alleges that Salka refuted this, resulting in a breach of the DSA, leading to its termination.
It also accused Salka of “willful misconduct, gross negligence, and numerous breaches” of contract including excluding Ignis from contractor meetings and failing to perform certain obligations as outlined in the DSA within the agreed budget and timeframe.
Following the complaints, both parties also filed temporary injunctions on each other which were granted by the court. Under the injunctions, each company was required to continue its obligations as set out in the DSA, with a court date to present evidence scheduled for 18 November, 2024.
These events culminated on 20 October, 2024 when a filing was published on the NY Supreme Court’s online docketing system stating that the two parties had agreed to resolve and settle their dispute pursuant to a separate settlement agreement.
Although Salka isn’t mentioned within the recent CEC application, it’s unclear whether they’re still involved in project development.
CEC’s authority over 200MWh+ BESS projects under scrutiny
Ignis’ application comes at a time when the CEC’s jurisdiction over 200MWh BESS projects has been under huge scrutiny following the recent fire at Moss Landing, with one Assembly Member introducing a new bill that seeks to take away the regulatory body’s authority over such projects.
As recently reported by Energy-Storage.news, AB 303, the “Battery Energy Safety & Accountability Act”, would remove the CEC’s regulatory authority over BESS projects requiring developers to obtain approval through local regulatory bodies.
The bill was introduced as an “urgency statute” which is reserved for the “immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety”. As currently drafted and if passed, the bill would require the CEC to deny all projects currently under its review.
