Dallas, Texas-based independent power producer (IPP) Stellar Renewable Power has secured a Special Use Permit (SUP) to construct and operate a 1GW/4GWh BESS project co-located with a 1GW solar farm in Navajo County, Arizona.
Navajo County Board of Supervisors granted the SUP at a meeting held November 12 2024 after the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission recommended approval of the permit during the month prior.
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Global investment firm KKR formed Stellar Renewable Power in 2021 to source, develop and operate utility-scale solar and storage projects on behalf of the firm’s asset-based finance strategy.
Plan includes 1GW/4GWh BESS provided by BYD
Stellar’s Red Hills Solar and Storage project will encompass 9,090 acres of land located approximately 8 miles southwest of the Arizonan town of Snowflake in Navajo County.
Planning documents provided by Stellar to Navajo County commissioners show a design proposal featuring 58 individual lithium iron phosphate (LFP) BESS containers from BYD occupying approximately 40 acres of the project site. However, equipment shown in planning documents is often for illustrative purposes and does not denote a supplier has been selected.
As recently reported by Energy-Storage.news, BYD announced its latest battery offering last week, hailed by one company executive as the “world’s first high-performance” sodium-ion BESS product. The new MC Cube-SIB ESS is expected to have a capacity of 2.3MWh utilising the company’s proprietary blade battery technology.
Construction on the Red Hills project is expected to commence in July 2026, with commercial operations scheduled for December 2028.
Interconnection to Salt River Project’s grid
The Red Hills 1GW hybrid solar and BESS project is expected to connect to the grid via investor-owned utility (IOU) Salt River Project’s (SRP’s) Sugarloaf 500kV substation.
As stipulated by the terms of the SUP, Stellar Renewable Power was required to supply Navajo County with a redacted copy of a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) that the developer had in place with a third-party for the sale of at least 80% of the project’s solar generation for a minimum of 10 years.
Although a copy of the agreement wasn’t made public, it’s likely that the PPA associated with Stellar’s Red Hills project also includes energy storage, as is often the case with off-take agreements such as these.
Arizona’s move to abolish renewable portfolio standards
In February this year, Arizona’s state regulator, the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), voted to repeal laws mandating utilities generate at least 15% of their energy from renewables by 2025.
Despite the backwards step from state regulators, there has been a plethora of energy storage off-take agreements announced by Arizona utilities this year, who appear to be moving away from fossil-fuel reliance, albeit at a slower pace than utilities in other US states.
Arizona’s largest utility, Arizona Public Service (APS), has committed to providing 100% clean energy by 2050 with an interim target of 45% by 2030. In a move to reach this target and as recently reported by Energy-Storage.news, APS announced that it had signed an 20-year tolling agreement with Recurrent Energy for the developer’s 600MWh Papago Storage project located in Maricopa County.
In another recent announcement, SRP is collaborating with EDP Renewables on a 200MW/800MWh standalone BESS, known as the Flatland project, to be built in the City of Coolidge.
Stellar Renewable Power developing 9.5GW US solar and storage pipeline
Spearheaded by business veteran Vijay Venkatachalam, Stellar Renewable Power claims to have a development portfolio exceeding 9.5GW of solar and storage across 12 US states.
Along with its Red Hills project, Stellar Renewable Power is pursuing development of another project in the Grand Canyon State dubbed the 1886 Solar Energy Station located in Coconino County.
The 500MW hybrid solar and BESS project is expected to connect to the APS-controlled grid via a 500kV gen-tie line. The developer received a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility (CEC) from the ACC in November 2023 granting construction of this transmission line.
