MCE’s Board of Directors has approved an agreement for their largest battery-storage project, located in Kern County, which will provide enough power for an estimated 52,000 homes each year. The Golden Fields Solar project was selected after MCE’s annual solicitation for renewable energy and storage projects. With unanimous support by MCE’s Technical Committee of the Board, this new large-scale solar plus storage facility will generate 100 MW of solar energy with a co-located 75 MW lithium-ion battery.
“Projects like Golden Fields Solar are essential to California’s transition to a carbon free power grid,” said Ford Greene, MCE Board Director, Technical Committee Chair, and Town of San Anselmo Councilmember. “Large battery storage projects that are co-located with renewable resources take us one step closer to an all-renewable electric grid, increase reliability, and create green-collar jobs.”
The project is expected to come online in March 2025 for a 15-year term. Golden Fields Solar will be constructed with union labor using a Project Labor Agreement and will include pollinator friendly habitat throughout the project site. In addition, the project developer has pledged $100,000 and 100 hours of employee time toward community benefit initiatives that directly benefit MCE’s service area and communities adjacent to the project location.
The Golden Fields Solar project will help MCE meet the California Public Utilities Commission’s midterm reliability mandate, which requires MCE to procure an additional 72 MW of solar plus 5-hour dispatch storage capacity by 2025.
Tags: utility-scale
