US renewable energy company Ormat Technologies has signed a 15-year contract for an 80MW/320MWh BESS project in California.

The Board of Supervisors at California’s San Diego County voted to establish standards for the siting of battery storage facilities at a meeting held 17 July 2024, following two recent fires.

Arizona utility Salt River Project has signed agreement for dispatch rights to 250MW/1,000MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project.

Renewables developer Clearway Energy Group has closed a US$700 million construction financing on a portfolio of solar and storage projects in California, US.

The Energy Research and Development Division of the California Energy Commission (CEC) has issued a report highlighting the importance of energy storage facilities with a discharge duration of eight hours or more in order for the Golden State to reach its target of a zero-carbon electricity grid by 2045. 

The US Department of Energy has issued a loan of up to US$861.3 million to support 200MW solar PV and 285MW/1,140MWh BESS in Puerto Rico.

The CPUC has proposed the procurement of over 10GW of new energy resources, including 1GW of multi-day long-duration energy storage (LDES) and another 1GW of 12-hour-plus LDES.

According to Mercom Capital, companies in the energy storage space raised US$15.4 billion in corporate funding globally in the first half of 2024.

Italian renewables company Redelfi has launched an energy storage development platform in the US, while US investor Bluestar Energy Capital has entered the European market.

In this Q&A, Enel North America CEO Paolo Romanacci discusses the IPP’s operational BESS projects, pipeline and deployments as well as his views on wider US industry challenges.