Gridstor Begins Commercial Operations at Goleta Storage Facility
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US battery developer Gridstor has officially launched commercial operations at its Goleta battery storage facility, which boasts a capacity of 60MW and 160MWh, making it the largest battery storage project in Santa Barbara County. The facility features 44 containerized battery blocks, supplied by Tesla, and is positioned alongside a 700kW system also developed by Tesla.
Gridstor has entered into a resource adequacy contract with Southern California Edison, committing to provide 40MW of resource adequacy with a duration of four hours in response to market demands from the California Independent System Operator (CAISO). The facility is equipped with larger 60MW inverters, which allows it to accommodate higher electricity demands when necessary.
Gridstor highlights that the system is capable of supplying electricity to Goleta’s residential population during peak demand hours. Chris Taylor, CEO of Gridstor, emphasized, “California has an urgent need for grid reliability as it decarbonizes its economy, and battery storage is the critical resource that meets both challenges. We could not be prouder to work with the city of Goleta and other stakeholders to bring this facility to life and support California’s goals for clean, reliable energy.”
The Tesla Megapack battery energy storage system (BESS) units were manufactured at Tesla’s dedicated production site in Lathrop, California. To further support domestic energy infrastructure development, the US has implemented initiatives such as the Inflation Reduction Act. Additionally, investor Nord/LB provided $55 billion in project debt financing to facilitate the project’s completion.
Construction of the Goleta facility began in June after Gridstor acquired a 2GWh portfolio of battery storage projects in Los Angeles, aiming for rapid expansion. Despite being founded just last year, Gridstor has garnered support from Horizon Energy Storage, a fund managed by Goldman Sachs. This backing is partly attributed to Taylor’s previous experience as the founder and chief development officer of wind and solar company Element Power, as well as his role as director of development at EDP Renewables North America. His expertise has enabled Gridstor to quickly establish itself as a significant player in California’s battery sector.
Original article by NenPower, If reposted, please credit the source: https://nenpower.com/blog/gridstor-launches-operations-at-new-60mw-battery-storage-facility-in-california/
