The Gaskell West 2 and 3 project is located in Kern County, California, and is fully contracted holding five long-term power purchase agreements with cities and utilities in California.
Matrix Renewables, the TPG Rise-backed global renewable energy platform, today announced an agreement to acquire the Gaskell West 2 and 3 project of 105MWac solar plus 80MWh energy storage from Canadian Solar’s subsidiary, Recurrent Energy.
The Gaskell West 2 and 3 project is located in Kern County, California, and is fully contracted holding five long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with cities and utilities in California. One of the first 20-year PPAs was signed in 2017 with Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) for 45MWac. It was the first PPA signed by BART under its Wholesale Electricity Portfolio Policy, which requires 100% of BART’s power to come from renewable sources by 2045 while maintaining low and stable operating costs.
The solar-plus-storage project is expected to reach commercial operation in late 2022, and will generate enough clean and low-cost electricity to power approximately 16,800 California homes and displace approximately 178,500 metric tons of carbon emissions each year. This hybrid project marks the first transaction between Matrix Renewables and Recurrent Energy.
Canadian Solar’s majority-owned subsidiary CSI Solar will continue to support the project by providing the turnkey lithium iron phosphate-based battery storage solution for the 80MWh storage part of the project. The integrated technology solution includes the supply, installation, and commission of the battery system. In addition, CSI Solar will support the battery storage system with capacity and performance guarantees, ensuring system output, safety and reliability. CSI Solar has delivered several battery storage solutions to California projects including the Mustang, Slate and Crimson battery storage projects.
Matrix Renewables has been expanding its presence in the United States, its sixth country of operations, and opened its US headquarters in Florida in August 2021. It is backed by TPG Rise, a fund established by Texas Pacific Group (TPG) in 2016 in partnership with Bono and Jeff Skoll (the first president of ebay), and its mission is to invest in companies that drive measurable social and environmental impact along with business performance and strong returns. The company’s current portfolio includes 2.1GW of operational, under construction, or near ready-to-build solar PV projects and an additional 2.7GW pipeline of renewable energy projects under development, across the US, Europe, and Latin America.
“Through this project, we are continuing to grow our presence in the US, drawing from Matrix Renewables’ ambitions to become a major renewables platform across the US, Europe and Latin America,” said Cindy Tindell, managing director and head of US for Matrix Renewables.
Last month Canadian Solar announced a new 420W rooftop solar module with 21.5% efficiency. Manufacturing is expected to begin this month for these modules. Also last month the company reported mixed Q4 results but issued guidance for FY 2022 total project sales that missed expectations.
