The company co-located energy storage in a grid-congested area of central Massachusetts.
Solar developer Nexamp announced it added energy storage to two of its Massachusetts-located community solar projects, providing numerous benefits to the grid. Brockelman Road solar is a 1.7MW project that was paired with a 1MW/2MWh battery system, and Clark Road co-locates 7.1MW of solar with a 3MW/6MWh battery energy storage system.
Both projects were supported by the Massachusetts SMART program, which provides financial incentives to solar projects, and has significant value adders for projects that include energy storage. The state encourages energy storage for numerous reasons, including grid resiliency, reliability, and security.
“Energy storage is critical for our ability to deploy renewable energy to broadly resolve issues of energy security and climate change. Our dozens of storage projects under development fulfill a variety of functions and use cases for a diverse group of customers. With each project that goes live we not only create value for our customers, but also contribute to a cleaner grid that is more stable and resilient.” Mark Frigo, Vice President of Energy Storage, Nexamp.
The battery systems will participate in the Massachusetts Clean Peak Energy Standard program, providing energy to congested areas of the grid in the central part of the state during seasonal peak demand. The project will also participate in ISO New England’s capacity and frequency regulation markets, promoting grid reliability and mitigating blackouts.
Nexamp developed the projects in partnership with Borrego. The two have a long history of collaborating on solar projects in the state.
Last month, T-Mobile entered an agreement with Nexamp to buy the generation provided by over 50MW of community solar across the Northeast. The ten projects serving T-Mobile broken down by state, total size and utility are as follows:
- 3 MA projects totaling 8.7MW (2 National Grid, 1 Eversource)
- 5 ME projects totaling 30.4MW (4 Central Maine Power, 1 Versant)
- 2 NY projects totaling 12.6MW (2 New York State Electric and Gas)
Having a large anchor tenant like T-Mobile helps guarantee the viability of the projects and opens the remaining local community solar capacity to nearby residents interested in subscribing to clean power. NRG served as project procurement consultant for T-Mobile, and Nexamp will be the long-term owner of the projects.
In August 2021, Nexamp closed a $440 million senior secured credit facility for a 380 MW portfolio of solar and energy storage assets. The portfolio covers five states and includes some 100 community solar projects, including energy storage capacity totaling 120MWh. MUFG Union Bank served as the lead arranger for the syndicated financing, which included a group of lenders. At the time, Nexamp said it has nearly 300 new solar and storage projects in its development pipeline.
