Developer Leeward Renewable Energy’s (LRE) 126MW/504MWh Antelope Valley battery energy storage system (BESS), located in Kern County, California, has reached commercial operations.
The 4-hour duration BESS is LRE’s first standalone battery storage project. In 2023, the company signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) for Antelope Valley with utility Southern California Edison.
Antelope Valley uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries from Powin, a US-headquartered battery storage system integrator. It is LRE’s seventh clean energy project to come online in California.
The BESS is located next to two LRE solar-plus-storage projects: Chapparal Springs, a 174MW PV plant combined with an 88MW/352MWh BESS that started operations earlier this month; and Rabbitrush, a 100MW solar PV plant with a 20MW/50MWh BESS.
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Rabbitrush is also confirmed to use Powin as the BESS supplier.
LRE claims the Antelope Valley project created approximately 90 jobs during the height of construction and will continue to benefit Kern County through tax revenues, with an estimated US$30 million in property taxes over the project’s lifetime.
The company has also made donations to Rosamond Hills Senior Apartments, which offers housing for low-income seniors, and to the Kern County Sheriff’s Mounted Posse, a community service organisation.
Kern County, the project’s location, is an active location for BESS development. According to the latest California Energy Storage System Survey from the California Energy Commission (CEC), the county led the state in total installed capacity with 1,501,030kW, or approximately 1,501.03MW.
LRE’s website notes that the only other standalone BESS project it currently has is the 112.5MW Sierra Pinta BESS located in Yuma County, Arizona, set to come online this year. That project is adjacent to LRE’s 179MW White Wing Ranch Solar project.
Sam Mangrum, executive vice president of project execution at LRE, said of the Antelope Valley project:
“As our first standalone battery project, it expands our capabilities to deliver dispatchable power when and where it is needed most. We are proud to support the broader energy market as California transitions to a cleaner, more resilient grid that can meet growing demand.”
