Acquired from Black Mountain Energy Storage, the 400 MWh combined projects will serve a growing market with a strong need for energy resiliency.
June 16, 2022
Recurrent Energy, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc., announced the acquisition of two standalone energy storage projects from Black Mountain Energy Storage.
Black Mountain Energy Storage, based in Austin, Texas, developed a +3GW pipeline of utility-scale storage projects in ERCOT territory. The two projects acquired by Recurrent are currently in development, and are in the South Load Zone of the Texas ERCOT market. Each is anticipated to store up to 200 MWh of energy and are expected to reach notice to proceed in 2023 and begin operation in the second quarter of 2024.
The two energy storage installations will be operated as merchant projects, providing dispatchable and reliable power to the ERCOT grid. Recurrent will continue to develop the projects, finalize entitlements and designs, select, and procure equipment, raise project financing, and construct the facilities.
According to Wood Mackenzie and the American Clean Power Association’s (ACP) latest US Energy Storage Monitor report, the volume of grid-scale energy storage installations in the United States increased four times over that seen in Q1 of 2021, setting a new record in Q1 2022. Overall, the US energy storage market added 955 MW and 2,875 MWh across all segments in the first quarter of 2022.
“ERCOT is one of the fastest growing markets in the world for energy storage, driven by market demand for flexible capacity. We are pleased to accelerate our ERCOT storage pipeline with the acquisition of two projects totaling 400 MWh of storage from Black Mountain Energy Storage,” said Dr. Shawn Qu, chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar. ” We look forward to bringing our storage development, financing and construction experience to bear as we bring these projects to fruition and increase grid reliability for Texans.”
Recurrent Energy functions as Canadian Solar’s US project development arm. With approximately 5 GW of solar and storage projects in development in the United States, Recurrent has developed 2.9 GWh of energy storage projects that are in construction or operation and has an additional pipeline of 15.5 GWh of projects under early to mid-stage development. About a year ago Recurrent received approval from the Bureau of Land Management for the Crimson Solar Project, a $550 million, 350 MW solar energy and similarly sized energy storage project on public lands in California that will deliver power through the Southern California Edison Colorado River Substation.
The transactions were executed through the LevelTen Asset Marketplace, a platform that connects clean energy project developers and financiers, and provides the software, analytics and M&A transaction expertise they need to execute transactions quickly.
