Goldman Sachs activates 390MW of PV, 561MWh of storage in California

From pv magazine USA

The renewable power division of Goldman Sachs said that it has started commercial operations at the Slate solar and energy storage project in California.

The 390MW solar and 140.25MW/561MWh battery storage facility is one of the largest in the state. The project, which began development in 2015, was originally developed by Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of PV manufacturer Canadian Solar.

The Kings County solar facility has five power purchase agreements (PPA) attached to several California-based organizations: the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Stanford University, and the Power and Water Resources Authority (PWRPA), a publicly owned organization. PWRPA has energy demand that fluctuates from 20MW to 120MW from winter to summer, consuming 290GWh to 520GWh of energy per year to convey, treat and recycle water for their growers and consumers.

Stanford University said it recently achieved 100% renewable energy operations. The university is targeting net zero emissions by 2050.

Central Coast Community Energy and Silicon Valley Clean Energy are also served by the project’s PPA. The organizations both offer opt-in contracts for customers who desire a higher share of renewable energy generation attached to their electric bills.

“Slate is a landmark project that will help California meet its leading renewable energy targets. We started developing Slate in 2015, and we’re proud that this project was contracted as one of the first utility-scale solar and energy storage projects in the state, thanks to the forward-thinking leadership among the projects’ customers.” said Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar.

The project is expected to generate enough power for 126,000 California homes, displacing roughly 369,310 metric tons of carbon per year in the process. Over the past year, the project has employed 405 workers at peak construction, 90% of which were local King’s County residents. Skilled tradespeople from local unions were hired for the construction.

Goldman Sachs’ renewable team was established in 2017 and has now sponsored more than 2.6GW of capacity across 850 solar and storage projects in 27 states.