EDF signs PPAs for huge California solar-plus-storage project

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email
EDF’s 49MW West Burton battery project in England. Image: EDF.

Two community energy suppliers in California followed up an agreement to buy power from a large-scale solar-plus-storage farm with another, project developer EDF Renewables has announced.

Energy-Storage.news reported at the end of October that Monterey Bay Community Energy (MBCE) and Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SCVE) had agreed 15-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) with Recurrent Energy, the US developer owned by Canadian Solar.

Through that deal, MBCE and SCVE will buy 45% and 55% respectively of output from Slate, a 150MW solar farm in Kern County, paired with 45MW / 150MWh of lithium battery storage which enables four hours of dispatchable solar energy, helping mitigate late afternoon and evening peaks in demand as solar production tails off.

At around the same time, but not announced by EDF Renewables until a few days ago, the pair also brokered a PPA deal with EDF Renewables, the international clean energy development arm of European utility company EDF, again for a Kern County solar project.

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

Big Beau Solar + Storage Project is 40MW / 160MWh of battery energy storage and 40MW of solar generation capacity, expected to reach commercial operation by the end of 2021. SVCE and MBCE will once again buy 55% and 45% of the power each in the same split as for the Slate project PPA.

“The inclusion of storage provides the agencies with a 100% clean and partially dispatchable product, allowing them to mitigate the ‘duck curve’ risk and monetise price spikes,” EDF Renewables product development director for renewables and energy storage Valeri Barros said.

Already a prolific adopter of solar and other distributed energy resources and technologies including electric vehicles (EVs), California now has in place a target to meet 100% of retail electricity sales with renewable sources by 2045.

Read Next

August 7, 2025
Energy storage developer and system integrator Energy Vault has received approval to pursue market-based participation in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) with the Calistoga Resiliency Centre (CRC).
August 7, 2025
AES Andes, part of the US-based energy giant AES, has launched construction on two hybrid renewables-plus-storage projects in Chile with 2.2GWh of co-located BESS.
Premium
August 6, 2025
Energy-Storage.news Premium speaks with microgrid solutions provider BoxPower’s Director of Business Development, Fallon Vaughan and Sales and Marketing Coordinator Noa Schachtel, about the company’s microgrid offerings.
August 6, 2025
Arevon’s Eland Solar-plus-Storage Center in Los Angeles, California, is complete, comprising 758MW of solar and 1,200MWh battery storage.
August 6, 2025
Construction has officially started on the 100MW/400MWh 4-hour duration Merredin battery energy storage system (BESS) in Western Australia.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter