The 100 MW/400 MWh Tibbitts battery energy storage system (BESS), in Michigan; and the 200 MW/400 MWh Big Rock site, in California, are operational; and the 100 MW/400 MWh White Tank BESS planned in Arizona has changed hands.
he growth of the United States’ BESS market has been exemplified by announcements relating to another 1.2 GWh of capacity within days.
Texan developer Jupiter Power held a ceremony on Thursday to officially inaugurate a 100 MW/400 MWh BESS it described as “Michigan’s first utility-scale energy storage project” and North Carolina-based energy storage engineer LS Energy Solutions announced it had begun operations at a 200 MW/400 MWh site in California on the same day.
With Oregon-based renewables business GridStor on Friday announcing it had acquired a 100 MW/400 MWh project that is due online in Arizona in the first half of 2027, the news also revealed institutional investors are backing BESS. Jupiter is supported by New York-based BlackRock, GridStor is funded by New York investment bank Goldman Sachs, and the LS Energy site is owned by a unit of London-based Gore Street Capital.
Michigan
Operational since “earlier this summer,” Jupiter’s Tibbits Energy Storage Facility, at Coldwater township, will supply power to Michigan utility Consumers Energy and, according to the developer, will be the “first of several large-scale battery projects that Consumers Energy will help bring online this decade.”
Jupiter – which says it has almost 3 GWh of operational or under-construction batteries plus a 12 GW-plus development pipeline – is also working on the 100 MW Voyager Battery Storage Project, in Saline Township, Michigan, with Consumers Energy.
California
Gore Street acquired the Big Rock energy storage project from San Diego-based developer Avantus in February 2023 and its LS-ES AiON-ESS batteries are now supplying the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) grid with resource adequacy services under a 12-year contract.
The Imperial County site, which features 137 containers, is Gore Street’s first for CAISO and part of a 753.4 MW/924.1 MWh operational portfolio the English developer reports in the United States, Ireland, Great Britain, and Germany. Site developer LS Energy says it has installed more than 1 GW of energy storage across 250 projects.
Arizona
GridStor has acquired the White Tank project, in Maricopa County, from North Carolinian renewables business Strata Clean Energy.
State utility Arizona Public Service (APS) will operate the site under a 20-year tolling agreement – by which developers hand over operation of their assets for that period. The press release issued by GridStor to announce the purchase stated APS and other Arizona utilities set new records for energy consumption last month.
The deal marked GridStor’s fourth project acquisition in 12 months and its second in Arizona. The company reported 5 GW of BESS in late-stage development or under construction in the western and central United States.
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