EDF and Masdar secure 15-year PPA for solar and BESS project commissioned in 2022

EDF power solutions North America and Masdar have signed a 15-year PPA for their 128 MW solar plant with 40 MW/160 MWh BESS in California.

The BigBeau project has been operational since December 2022 as one of seven projects developed in partnership between UAE state-owned energy company Masdar and EDF power solutions North America.

BigBeau has been delivering electricity to local utility Southern California Edison under the new PPA agreement since Feb.1 2026 – meaning the new PPA has come into effect more than three years after the plant became operational.

Southern California Edison is not the first offtaker to sign a PPA for BigBeau. EDF Renewables North America announced in 2018 that it had signed two 20-year PPAs for the project in Kern County. Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) agreed to to purchase 55% of output with Monterey Bay Community Power agreeing to purchase 45%. EDF confirmed to ESS News that these PPAs have been terminated.

Dustin Priemer, director of asset management at Masdar Americas, said the project forms part of the company’s growing portfolio in the United States, where the developer “focused on scaling utility-scale clean power.”

“We are appreciative of our growing partnership with Southern California Edison and our shared commitment to investing in new generation capacity to meet growing energy demand in California.”

Masdar acquired a 50% stake in the BigBeau solar and energy storage project in April 2023, four months after the site entered operations in December 2022. The acquisition followed an initial deal between Masdar and EDF Renewables North America in 2020 which saw the two companies agree to partner on a 1.6 GW portfolio including three utility-scale wind projects, and five solar projects in California, two of which included co-located battery energy storage.

The two companies report a shared seven-project portfolio with a total combined capacity 1.1 GW.