US solar-plus-storage developer Primergy has signed a “long-term” power purchase agreement (PPA) with California community energy supplier San Diego Community Power (SDCP).
The deal will see SDCP acquire power generated by Primergy’s 400MWac Purple Sage Energy Center, a project currently under development in the neighbouring state of Nevada, near the California border. The project also consists of a 1.6GWh battery energy storage system (BESS), and Primergy expects to commission the facility in 2027.
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“Pairing solar with sizable battery energy storage systems is vital for grid stability and creating a reliable, dispatchable energy resource,” said Primary CEO Ty Daul. “We are proud of the lasting partnerships we have made through this project and look forward to delivering carbon-free energy to the power grid.”
The project is not Primergy’s first in the space, following its work on its US$1.2 billion Gemini solar-plus-storage project, also in Nevada. The developer has worked with a number of key industry players on the project, including major solar manufacturer Maxeon and lithium-ion battery manufacturer CATL, at a project that boasts a power generation capacity of 690MWac and a BESS capacity of 1.4GWh.
The deal with SDCP is also notable, as it will aid the initiative in meeting its growing energy demand, with the SDCP expanding its customer base to close to a million people by the end of 2023. The SDCP is a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA), a programme where local governments can manage and distribute power to local citizens, currently in operation in ten states in the US.
The SDCP in particular uses the grid infrastructure of San Diego Gas & Electric, a utility providing power to around 3.7 million people in southern California, and the use of its grid to deliver clean power will be of benefit to the state’s wider decarbonisation goals.
“This agreement with Primergy reinforces our commitments to meet our ambitious renewable goals, while investing in a project that balances environmental and community benefits in support of the clean energy transition,” added Karin Burns, SDCP CEO.
