Optimiser GridBeyond has been selected to provide scheduling coordinator, trading and energy optimisation services to UK-headquartered BESS investor Gore Street Energy Storage Fund’s (GSF) 200MW Big Rock US project.
Located in Southern California, US, the 200MW/400MWh BESS project completed energisation in January. GSF acquired Big Rock from developer Avantus in 2023, at a construction-ready phase. In November 2024, GSF secured a US$80 million increase in debt facilities for its battery storage projects, including the Big Rock BESS project.
The project is composed of 137 of LS’ AiON-ESS all-in-one units (Premium access article), including integrated DC and AC components and LS’ modular 140 kCA string inverter AiON-SIS. LS Energy brought the first container to be deployed at Big Rock to the 2023 RE+ 2023 trade show.
Big Rock also marks GSF’s first project in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) market. The investor owns projects in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Texas.
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GridBeyond uses its artificial intelligence-driven software platform to optimise and monetise energy assets, adding them to its Grid Edge Virtual Power Plant, or in the case of large-scale BESS, serving as route-to-market provider.
Speaking with Energy-Storage.news, Michael Phelan, CEO of GridBeyond said of the company’s work (Premium access article): “We optimise storage assets, mainly batteries and flexible assets, mainly industrial and commercial assets with storage, and we put them basically into all available markets.”
“So we would look at, in any [given] market: have we access to the wholesale markets? The day-ahead, the intraday, the imbalance markets, the reserve markets, and the frequency markets. If there are local distribution system operator (DSO) markets, we would look at those as well and then we would place assets as appropriate into all of those markets, and trade them in time, to maximise the value that we can get from those assets.”
GridBeyond says that the effective management of GSF’s BESS will be critical in storing excess solar energy during peak generation and releasing it during high demand periods. The company added that its “CAISO optimisation and proprietary must-offer strategy will be a key component of fulfilling the Big Rock Resource Adequacy contract acquired by a Goldman Sachs subsidiary in October 2024.”
Alex O’Cinneide, CEO of GSF said of the contract: “Gore Street is committed to achieving the very best returns for all of its assets under management. We are therefore very pleased to have selected GridBeyond to partner with as Big Rock goes into operation and we move forward with the project.”
In the UK, GSF is using ACCURE’s cloud-based battery data analytics software on two projects. The company says the predictive analytics solution is able to reduce operational issues and the risk of fires caused by thermal runaway events.
