Southern Power signs power purchase agreements for energy storage at California facilities

Southern Power has been awarded two 20-year power purchase agreements by Southern California Edison (SCE) for energy storage.

The company is also adding battery-based energy storage resources at both Southern Power’s Tranquillity Solar Facility and Garland Solar Facility, both of which are in California.

“These projects will be two of the first co-located solar and storage projects operating in the California market,” Southern Power President Bill Grantham said. “We’re excited to be a part of the effort to enhance California’s grid reliability. The addition of these storage resources to our clean energy portfolio is a great strategic fit for our business and will further position Southern Power to meet our customers’ needs as the energy industry continues to evolve.”

The battery-based energy storage additions will provide SCE and the California ISO (CAISO) with additional flexible resource capacity to help in the process of integrating intermittent renewable energy into the grid. For the Garland Solar Facility in Kern County, Calif., 88 megawatts (MW) and 352 megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy storage will be added. For the Tranquillity Solar Facility in Fresno County, Calif., 72 MW and 288 MWh of energy storage will be added.

The energy storage projects will be owned in partnership with AIP Management and Global Atlantic Financial Group, both of which have existing ownership interests in the Garland and Tranquillity solar facilities. Southern Power operates the solar projects and will be responsible for operating the energy storage projects upon completion.

Southern Power is a subsidiary of Southern Company. Southern Power and its subsidiaries own or operate 52 facilities operating or under development in 13 states with more than 12,080 MW of generating capacity in Alabama, California, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas, Washington, and West Virginia.