Recurrent Energy Signs Agreement For 600 MWh Energy Storage Project

A wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc., Recurrent Energy today announced signing a 15-year Resource Adequacy agreement with Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) to provide 150 MW / 600 MWh of energy storage in phase 2 of the Crimson project.

According to the firm, the 350 MW / 1,400 MWh Crimson project will be one of the largest battery energy storage projects in the world when it comes online beginning in summer 2022.

Earlier this year, Southern California Edison awarded Recurrent Energy a long-term energy storage contract for 200 MW / 800 MWh for phase 1 of the Crimson project located in Riverside County, California. Both contracts are stand-alone storage projects and are part of reliability procurements directed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC)

The newly signed agreement with PG&E is specifically in response to a decision by the CPUC in March for the California utilities to “take actions to prepare for potential extreme weather in the summers of 2021 and 2022.” This additional energy storage capacity further supports Governor Newsom’s recent emergency proclamation to expedite new clean energy projects in light of the ongoing extreme weather and climate crisis faced by the state.

Speaking of the project, “It is becoming increasingly important to be able to send energy to the grid during heatwaves and other peak demand events. We are pleased to help PG&E enhance grid reliability in California by providing critically needed resource adequacy capacity through our long-term battery storage solution,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman & CEO of Canadian Solar.

He added, “We are accelerating all our development processes to ensure we reach the target commercial operation date of summer 2022. We thank our partners for their trust and support, and look forward to providing more safe, reliable, affordable, and clean battery storage solutions to the communities we serve.”

Recently, Recurrent Energy has expanded its energy storage footprint in the United States with several leading Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) contracted to be built in 2021 and 2022. These projects span retrofits as-a-service, solar plus storage PPAs, and stand-alone storage tolling agreements.