California’s 500 MW Oberon Solar with Storage Project Sets Off Operation

California's 500 MW Oberon Solar with Storage Project Sets Off Operation

A firm that develops, owns, and operates clean energy resources, such as solar PV, co-located storage, and green hydrogen, Intersect Power, has kickstarted the commercial operation for California-based 500 MW Oberon solar and storage project.

The Oberson solar with storage project is in line with the USA’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) since it employs equipment made domestically. It boasts modules from Ohio made by First Solar, smart solar trackers from Nextracker. The co-located 1 GWh of storage was constructed with Tesla battery from its unit located in Lathrop, California.

During peak construction, over 930 skilled union jobs were chalked out with a focus on employing local workforce.

The Oberon project is the maiden project to be operationalized by way of the streamlined approach as part of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.

Offtakers of energy, renewable energy credits as well as resource adequacy by the Oberon project will include Calpine Energy Solutions, Constellation, Ava Community Energy, Microsoft and San Diego Community Power.

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The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan (DRECP) is a collaborative initiative that encompasses an expansive area of 22.5 million acres in seven California counties. One of its two ambitions is to offer a streamlined process towards the development of utility-scale renewable energy generation and transmission in the deserts of southern California. These align with the  renewable energy targets and policies of the federal and state governments.

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The effort is the results of six years of partnership between the federal government, conservation groups, Native American tribes, renewable energy industry, utilities, along with the members of the public.

The firm had achieved cumulative funding to the tune of $2.6bn in November two years ago for the construction and operation of six solar projects. One of these was the Oberon solar with storage project. The funding encompassed construction financing, tax equity, land financing and portfolio level term debt.

California has emerged as a favoured site for solar plus storage projects. Some noteworthy project announcements in California include Caelux’s establishment of a manufacturing unit in Baldwin Park, 420 MW capacity of energy storage across four California sites to Middle River Power, among others.