Ormat and esVolta secure tax equity deals for California BESS projects

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

A double-header of tax equity news from the California BESS market, with Ormat Technologies and esVolta both completing deals for grid-scale projects in the state.

Independent power producer (IPP) esVolta has completed a US$110 million tax equity transaction with clean energy tax equity specialist investor Greenprint Capital Management to finance the construction of its 75MW/300MWh Hummingbird battery energy storage system (BESS) project in San Jose, California.

The BESS will be completed in 2025 and provide energy to utility PG&E under a long-term agreement, as well as provide fast-responding energy and ancillary services to the state’s grid operator CAISO. Most grid-scale BESS in California are 4-hour systems, the required duration under CAISO’s Resource Adequacy framework (likely the long-term agreement with PG&E).

Greenprint is one of the most active investors in tax equity transactions for standalone energy storage, something which has only been possible since the outgoing Biden-Harris administration’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). In the past 12 months, Energy-Storage.news has covered Greenprint deals for BESS projects from developer-operators Spearmint Energy, SMT Energy and SUSI, Nexus Renewables and Plus Power.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

Not ready to commit yet?
  • 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

However, esVolta’s press release didn’t make clear whether the deal with Greenprint is a conventional tax equity investment deal or a tax credit transfer transaction under the IRA’s new transferability mechanism—it used both “investment” and “transaction” to describe the deal.

An executive at another tax equity investment specialist Foss & Company discussed why a project might opt for one or the other in a recent interview with Energy-Storage.news (Premium access).

Meanwhile, fellow IPP Ormat Technologies has stated clearly that it has monetised the tax credit for its 80MW/320MWh Bottleneck BESS in California via a tax credit transfer deal. The project came online last month and the firm said it would swiftly move to sell the tax credit.

It sold the investment tax credit (ITC) for which the project was eligible, covering 40% of the project’s capital expenditure, to an unnamed third party. At a cash price of US$0.93 per US$1 of tax credit value, after deducting broker and legal fees, Ormat received $46.7 million. That implies the total capex of the Bottleneck project was around US$120 million.

The future of clean energy tax equity and tax credit transferability was discussed in a piece covering the industry reaction to the election win of Donald Trump last week, with some sources saying a repeal is unlikely given its bipartisan support.

Read Next

August 29, 2025
Potentia Energy, a joint venture co-owned by Enel Green Power and INPEX, has secured the first environmental approval for a grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) under South Australia’s new Hydrogen and Renewable Energy (HRE) Act.
Premium
August 28, 2025
Energy-Storage.news Premium speaks with Sergio Melendez, storage sector manager at CAISO, and Ali Karimian, market optimisation director at GridBeyond, about regulating Bid Cost Recovery Payments in the California Independent System Operator market.
August 28, 2025
California utility Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) has pushed back recommissioning of the Elkhorn battery energy storage system (BESS) by approximately one year, to 30 June 2026.
August 28, 2025
California and Texas have been “really good proving grounds” for energy storage, according to the CEO of developer Fullmark Energy.
Premium
August 27, 2025
Following in the footsteps of several other US jurisdictions this year, officials at California’s Orange County are one step closer to amending zoning laws to allow the development of BESS. 

Most Popular

Email Newsletter