Avantus has sold its Big Rock 1 energy storage project to Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc, a London-based publicly traded fund managed by Gore Street Capital Ltd. The 200 MW, two-hour (400 MWh) energy storage system will be one of the largest energy storage projects in Imperial County, California, complementing the county’s vast renewable energy resources and substantially increasing grid reliability within the region.
Big Rock 1 will begin construction in the second half of this year and is expected to come online in late 2024. The energy storage facility will provide firm, reliable power, with plans to provide resource adequacy and ancillary services to the CAISO market.
“Powering our future requires solutions like Big Rock 1 that are clean, low-cost, responsive and reliable any time of day or night,” said Dr. Tom Buttgenbach, founder and CEO at Avantus, formerly known as 8minute. “Now that we have the technology and economics in place to really unleash the potential of energy storage, we need to get to work deploying it in California and other places with vast amounts of existing renewable resources and help bolster grid stability for millions of people. We are proud to partner with Gore Street, a leading operator of energy storage in Europe, to make this project a reality.”
Avantus will continue to oversee the development and construction of the project, pairing Gore Street Capital’s global operating and technical experience with Avantus’ technical and market expertise. Following recent acquisitions in Texas, the project marks Gore Street Energy Storage Fund’s first acquisition in California and is their largest acquisition to date in the United States.
“This acquisition is an important milestone in increasing the size and diversification of our international portfolio. In acquiring Big Rock 1, we are delighted to enter the CAISO grid, supporting California’s massive renewable energy market and broadening our presence in the U.S.,” said Dr. Alex O’Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital Ltd., the investment adviser of Gore Street Energy Storage Fund. “We are proud to partner with an industry leader such as Avantus and look forward to continued collaboration.”
Big Rock 1 continues Avantus’ longstanding partnership with Imperial Country, where the company developed the 800 MW Mount Signal solar cluster over a decade ago that remains one of the nation’s largest operating solar projects to date. Big Rock 1 will add additional resiliency to the grid, capturing clean energy produced throughout the day and discharging it during periods of high demand throughout the night. The project is expected to create 90 construction jobs and provide tens of millions in local tax revenue and other contributions to benefit Imperial County communities.
Big Rock 1 is among several projects under development by Avantus in Imperial County. With more than 90 projects currently in development across California, Texas and the Southwest, the company has clean energy pipeline that exceeds 50 GW of system capacity, including 42 GW of solar and 78 GWh of energy storage.
— Solar Builder magazine
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