Three US battery energy storage system (BESS) developers, GridStor, Flatiron, and Jupiter Power, have advanced BESS projects totalling 1.6GWh across Arizona, Massachusetts, and Michigan.
GridStor acquires fourth BESS in 12 months
Developer-operator GridStor has acquired the 100MW/400MWh White Tank BESS project in Arizona from Strata Clean Energy.
The project will be operated via a 20-year tolling agreement with Arizona Public Service (APS), the state’s largest electric utility.
Located in Maricopa County, the project is due to come online in the first half of 2027. Strata will remain in a consultative role for the project until commercial operations begin.
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White Tank was awarded to Strata through APS’s all-source request for proposals (RFP) launched in June 2023. Through that RFP, Strata was also awarded the 150MW/600MWh Justice BESS, which broke ground in April.
The successful close of the White Tank BESS marks GridStor’s fourth acquisition within the last twelve months and its second in Arizona.
The company previously acquired a 100MW/400MWh BESS in Arizona from Capacity Power Group.
GridStor also acquired a 200MW/800MWh BESS in Oklahoma from Black Mountain Energy Storage this year. In 2024, the company acquired a 220MW/440MWh standalone BESS project in Galveston County, Texas, which began construction in October.
In its announcement for White Tank, the company said it “expects to continue acquisitions of advanced-stage projects that provide cost-effective, near-term solutions to utilities, data centres, and other large industrial customers in regions with rapidly growing energy demand.”
Flatiron Energy reaches close on US$540 million commitments for 800MWh BESS
Flatiron Energy has closed on approximately US$540 million of financing commitments to support the construction and operations of the 200MW/800MWh Taft BESS project in Uxbridge, Massachusetts.
Taft is expected to be operational in late 2026.
The US$540 million financing commitments span construction and bridge loan facilities, term loan facilities, letter of credit facilities, a preferred equity commitment, and a tax credit transfer commitment.
A consortium of banks provided the construction loans, term loans, bridge loans, and letters of credit, with First Citizens Bank and Nord/LB serving as coordinating lead arrangers and Societe Generale, Santander, and Investec serving as joint lead arrangers.
Societe Generale acted as the green loan coordinating agent, and Santander as the hedging coordinator.
A Fortune 500 corporation, unnamed by Flatiron, provided a forward commitment to transfer a portion of the project’s Investment Tax Credits (ITCs).
Earlier this month, South Korean company SK On secured a BESS supply contract with Flatiron, seeing SK On supplying up to 7.2GWh of BESS for energy storage developer Flatiron’s projects in New England and elsewhere through 2030. SK On will begin production of US domestic content lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells to go into the systems, at repurposed electric vehicle (EV) battery production lines, with deliveries to begin in the second half of next year.
Flatiron has also recently commenced initial proceedings to construct a 168MW/672MWh BESS at the site of a former coal-fired power plant located in Bristol County, Massachusetts.
The company is proposing to construct a 168MW BESS, known as Salt Cod Storage, at the former coal-fired Montaup Power Plant located along the west bank of the Taunton River in Somerset, Massachusetts.
Jupiter Power puts Michigan’s first utility-scale BESS into operation.
Developer Jupiter Power and utility Consumers Energy announced the successful commercial operations of the 100MW/400MWh Tibbits Energy Storage Facility in Michigan’s Coldwater Township.
Notably, Jupiter Power claims Tibbits is the state’s first operational utility-scale BESS.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held to celebrate the milestone on 18 September.
Consumers Energy says Tibbits is the first of several large-scale battery projects it will help bring online this decade.
June 2024 saw Consumers Energy, one of eight investor-owned utility (IOU) companies in Michigan, sign a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with Jupiter Power for the Tibbits BESS.
The PPA features a fixed energy payment of US$14.54 per MWh for the plant’s capacity, energy, renewable energy credits, and environmental attributes.
Also in 2024, the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approved an application from Consumers Energy for a PPA with Jupiter Power, operating as Voyager Energy Storage, for a 100MW/400MWh battery energy storage facility.
Jupiter Power says that the Tibbits and Voyager projects will help Consumers Energy meet growing customer demand and support grid reliability in Michigan.
This summer, system integrator Energy Vault and developer Jupiter Power signed an agreement to supply an additional 100MW/200MWh BESS at a Jupiter site in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.
In July 2024, Jupiter Power brought the St Gall BESS, a 100MW/200MWh system supplied by Energy Vault, into commercial operation in Fort Stockton, Texas.
Meanwhile, Consumers Energy will soon go to court alongside fellow Michigan utility DTE Energy for the companies’ case against contractor Toshiba American Energy Systems (TAES) over allegedly ‘defective’ work on a pumped hydro energy storage (PHES) plant. The case is scheduled for October.
Following several years of work, starting in 2015, the two utilities claimed that defects were first discovered in 2019, ultimately leading to operational problems that have reduced the running time of some units to around 50 hours per year.
