The electricity generated by the Kern Solar and Battery Storage Project will be delivered to SJCE between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. every day, in order to support grid reliability, reduce reliance on emitting plants, and combatting peak demand difficulties.
San José Clean Energy (SJCE), the the Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) for San Jose, and developer Terra-Gen have completed SJCE’s first long-term investment in renewable energy: a 62MW solar and battery storage project in Kern County, California.
Under a unique supply agreement, the electricity generated by the Kern Solar and Battery Storage Project will be delivered to SJCE between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. every day, in order to support grid reliability, reduce reliance on power plants that produce harmful emissions, and improve air quality by providing renewable energy during hours of peak demand, when mitting resources would otherwise be required.
This fixed delivery model was established in the 12-year power purchase agreement the companies came to terms on in April 2020. Since that time, Terra-Gen has built more than 115 MW of new solar energy and new battery storage to fulfill the agreement.
In addition, SJCE and TerraGen have contracted for a 15-year PPA set to supply another 100 MW of new solar to the CCA. This project is expected to reach commercial operation by the end of 2022 and will also be built in Kern County with union labor.
GreenSource, SJCE’s standard service option, is currently sourced at 60% from renewable energy, up from 45% in 2019, and the CCA is working to help achieve the city’s goal of running on 100% renewable energy by 2030.
“SJCE is proud to put new renewable energy onto the California grid through this innovative project and to achieve this milestone less than three years since becoming the local electric generation service provider,” said Director of San José’s Community Energy Department, Lori Mitchell.
