Vistra, LG Energy Expand Californian Battery Facility to 1.6 GWh

Vistra Corp., a Texas-based energy firm, and LG Energy Solution, a South Korean battery maker, have completed setting up the 400 MW/1.6 GWh Vistra Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility in Monterey County, California. Vistra recently finished construction on Phase II of the facility.

The battery system is now storing power and releasing it to California’s grid when it is needed. The 100-megawatt expansion as part of Phase II has brought the facility’s total capacity to 400 MW/1.6 GWh, making it the largest of its kind in the world.

“This facility provides a solution California desperately needs and this expansion was able to come online at the right time – as the summer heat intensifies and demand for electricity is at its highest. It is possible because of the partnership between Vistra and the State of California, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, LG Energy Solution, and Burns & McDonnell,” said Curt Morgan, chief executive officer at Vistra.

Announced just 15 months ago with construction starting in September 2020, the Phase II expansion project was completed in July 2021, ahead of schedule despite the many challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Vistra.

Moss Landing is a flagship project in which Vistra developed advanced energy storage capacity, for which LG Energy Solution provided batteries using its latest innovative Transportable Rack (TR1300).

The project is also the world’s largest lithium-ion battery energy storage project, and LG Energy Solution’s innovative product development and effective on-site support reduced installation time and costs, and strengthened customer value, said LG.

Vistra’s recently added facility is co-located on the site of its existing Moss Landing Power Plant in Monterey County, a site that’s been providing electricity to Californians since 1950. Burns & McDonnell provided engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) expertise for the expansion.

The 100-MW/400-MWh Phase II expansion is operating under a 10-year resource adequacy agreement with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E). The 300-MW/1,200-MWh Phase I project has a similar 20-year resource adequacy agreement with PG&E.

“As the California blackouts of August 2020 and heat waves in the West Coast gain national and even global attention, the role of battery energy storage in supplying energy and ensuring quality control becomes even more important to us as well,” said Youngjoon Shin, LG Energy Solution’s SVP of ESS Business.

The Moss Landing project will enable the transformation of California’s energy system to more clean renewable resources, reducing greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing reliability of the power grid. With the cooperation between LG Energy Solution and Vistra, emissions-free electricity is being supplied to 300,000 households when it is needed most, said LG.