ESA secures permit for 600 MWh battery in Michigan

The clean energy developer highlighted the difficulties of navigating township and state-wide regulations in order to land a “first of its kind” approval, in Midland Township.
Midland Township, in Michigan, is set for a 150 MW/600 MWh BESS. | Image: Image capture: Apr 2024 ©2025 Google/Google Street View.

Florida-based renewables developer ESA Solar Energy Inc., has announced it has secured a permit to develop a 150 MW/600 MWh, standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) in Michigan’s Midland Township.

The developer said securing the permit had involved “years of work” navigating “rigorous state and local permitting processes” and said the breakthrough was evidence of the company’s ability to develop clean energy sites “in challenging regulatory environments.”

The Salzburg Battery Storage Project, planned on a 15-acre site in northwest Midland Township, will supply grid services including peak shaving, load shifting, regulating voltage, and black-start capacity and will offer energy arbitrage – the ability to charge batteries with cheap electricity during periods of low demand and discharge when electricity prices are higher.

ESA said the project is part of the “study cycle” grid interconnection queue of electric utility the Midcontinental Independent System Operator (MISO), and will complete the study process by 2026.

With the Floridian developer having announced the sale of its 36-project “north MISO” clean energy portfolio, totalling 6 GW, on Jan. 15, 2025, it is not clear whether the Salzburg battery is one of the 17 Michigan-based projects that is up for sale. The eventual owner of the site will have to complete the grid interconnection process; draft engineering, procurement, and construction contracts; and secure financial notices to proceed.

The developer said the project, which will have its own substation, will supply enough energy to power around 30,000 homes for four hours.

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