Finance and construction updates from 2 GWh of US batteries

While investment in energy storage companies may have collapsed in the first three months of the year, Easter brought financing and construction news concerning another near-2 GWh of BESS across three US states.

Developer Spearmint Energy announced it has closed $252 million of funding for two BESS which will connect to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid.

The Florida-based company said it had secured $98 million worth of tax equity investment commitments from Missouri-based tax credit investor Sugar Creek Capital plus a $95 million tax equity bridge loan from California-headquartered East West Bank and Anglo-South African lender Investec Inc. until Sugar Creek’s investment materializes.

On top of those loans, Spearmint also landed $59 million construction cost borrowings from Canada’s Manulife, which will convert into a straightforward term loan once construction is complete on the two Texan BESS in question.

The Tierra Seca BESS, in Del Rio; and the Seven Flags site, in Laredo, both of which are 100 MW/200 MWh in scale, are under construction by US-based M.A. Mortenson Co. and will feature PowerTitan 2.0 batteries from Chinese supplier Sungrow.

Elsewhere in Texas, Chinese business Trina Storage will deliver its Elementa 2 battery technology for a 371 MWh BESS being developed by Colorado-based developer SMT Energy in Houston, Texas.

North Carolina-based FlexGen will provide BESS system integration and its Hybrid OS energy management software for a site Trina has described as its first utility-scale BESS in North America.

Announcing the supply deal and project, Trina said the site would be backed by equity and tax offtake partners Macquarie, from Australia, and Ohio-based regional lender KeyBank.

The Desert Quartzite Solar-plus-storage Project that the North American operation of French energy company EDF has been jointly operating since December has secured an unspecified long-term loan from an assortment of sources.

French state-owned EDF Renewables North America said the site, in Riverside, California, secured loans from the IPEX Bank division of German state-owned development bank KfW; state-owned credit export agency Export Development Bank Canada; and the state-owned Korea Development Bank; as well as MUFG Bank Ltd, part of Japan’s Mitsubishi Group; and four other, unnamed lenders.

The Desert Quartzite site, which features a 150 MW (AC)/600 MWh BESS alongside 375 MW (DC) of solar generation capacity, is jointly owned by Canadian sustainable asset manager PSEI.

In Maricopa County, Arizona, Strata Clean Energy held a groundbreaking ceremony for its 150 MW/600 MWh Justice Energy Storage project, which is due online in April next year.

North Carolina-based developer Strata said the project was awarded after a request-for-proposals issued by electric company Arizona Public Service in June 2023 and will be backed by a 20-year tolling agreement committing the utility to use its services.

Strata will develop, own, and operate a site it says will power around 24,000 homes once operational.