California CCA Signs On for Battery Power Tied to SEGS VIII Redevelopment

Peninsula Clean Energy, a Community Choice Aggregation agency, has reached a 15-year deal to exclusively receive 45 MW of battery storage from a four-hour lithium-ion battery project that Terra-Gen will develop near Barstow in San Bernardino County, Calif.

The energy storage facility is a part of a larger redevelopment of the existing SEGS VIII solar thermal project, which is expected to be operational in June 2024. The storage facility will tap into existing interconnection facilities.

This initiative is Peninsula Clean Energy’s second standalone battery storage project deal signed this year. The first was for 50 MW of four-hour lithium-ion storage from the Nova III facility in Riverside County beginning in August 2024.

The storage projects give Peninsula Clean Energy tools for reaching the agency’s goal of providing 24/7 renewable energy by helping to shift plentiful solar-powered energy into evening and overnight hours.

“Our priority is securing sufficient, low-cost, clean sources of power, while also ensuring reliability for our customers,” Peninsula Clean Energy CEO Jan Pepper says. “Battery storage is a critical component of our strategy and allows us to take the lead among all utilities in demonstrating it is possible to provide hourly renewable energy in a cost-effective way.”

“The SEGS VIII project has a long history supporting California’s journey towards clean and reliable power generation. The redevelopment of the project will expand that effort through the deployment of new large-scale renewables and energy storage,” adds Terra-Gen CEO Jim Pagano.

Peninsula Clean Energy says it has aggressively pursued additional renewable and storage resources while maintaining a 5% discount compared to what the agency’s customers in San Mateo County and the City of Los Banos would be paying for generation services through PG&E.