TransGrid Energy secures US$1.4 billion for two Arizona BESS totalling 450MW/1,800MWh

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TransGrid assembled a bank consortium led by Société Générale and Santander as lead arrangers, in addition to Société Générale and Santander, BNP Paribas, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentina, East West Bank, Shinhan Bank, Siemens Financial Services, and Associated Bank to finance the US$705 million in project loans.

Located in La Paz County, Arizona, the BESS projects have 15-year resource adequacy (RA) contracts with utility Southern California Edison (SCE) and will participate in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) market. Both projects have been contracted with Hanwha Solutions subsidiary engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company Qcells USA, and are expected to be operational later this year.

TransGrid’s BESS projects, Atlas VII and Atlas IX are two of the company’s four planned BESS for Arizona. The 482MW/1,528MWh Atlas VIII is targeting a commercial operation date (COD) of Q2 2026, and the 150MW/600MWh co-located with 300MW of PV, Atlas IV is targeting a COD of Q3 2026. Both of these projects are also located in La Paz County.

The fifth BESS listed on the company’s website is the 279MW/1,116MWh Silver Peak BESS, located in Boulder City, Nevada. That project is targeting a COD of Q2 2025.

La Paz County is an active area for BESS projects. Energy-Storage.news reported that BrightNight was seeking approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) for a Certificate of Environmental Capability (CEC) to construct a generation tie-in transmission line within the county (Premium access article), to connect its Eagle Eye solar-plus-storage project to the local grid.

In January of this year, ESN also reported on Southern California Edison seeking expedited approval from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for six separate offtake agreements (Premium access article) associated with developer Copia Power’s Centennial Flats hybrid solar and BESS facility in La Paz County.

Canadian renewables company Revolve Renewable Power also received approval to build a 250MW solar-and-storage project on land managed by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in the county, in 2022.

Sean Park, President of TransGrid said of the announced financing for the two BESS projects:

“This successful closing of US$1.4 billion portfolio financing demonstrates the commitment and execution capabilities of TransGrid to advance and deliver 1,800MWh of battery storage facilities that will support reliability and stability in the CAISO market.”

“We are grateful for the strong support from our financing partners and look forward to expanding our partnerships to strengthen critical energy infrastructure across the country.”

UK-headquartered battery storage investor-developer Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (GSF) and US-headquartered financial services firm Morningstar have shared outlooks for investing in battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.

California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has commenced the permitting process for a 265MWh hybrid solar and BESS project.

Energy software and consulting group Ascend Analytics CEO Gary Dorris discusses changes to ancillary services in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market and what asset optimisers need to do to stay ahead of the curve.

Longroad Energy has secured a power purchase agreement for one of its hybrid solar and BESS projects in California with Marin Clean Energy.

US renewable energy company Ormat Technologies has won a tender for two separate 15-year tolling agreements for two energy storage facilities with a combined capacity of 300MW/1,200MWh.