Arizona Public Service and Strata Clean Energy announced a 20-year tolling agreement built around the 255-MW/1-GWh Scatter Wash battery storage complex in Phoenix. The deal with Strata is part of APS’ long-known move toward more than 1 GW of complementary and connected solar and battery storage to decarbonize its generation portfolio.
Dispatchable battery energy storage is needed to aid in smoothing out dips in solar capacity such as the long known “duck curve” in which morning and evening electricity demand is high, but solar generation is relatively low compared to mid-day hours, when customers are at school or work.
“We believe that APS will continue to be a leader in battery energy storage and that our experienced Scottsdale-based team is well positioned to help move the state towards achieving its clean-energy objectives with projects like Scatter Wash. We have a large pipeline of additional clean energy projects in the Western United States and world-class execution capabilities,” said Josh Rogol, President of Strata Clean Energy, which is headquartered in North Carolina.
Strata will build, own, and operate the Scatter Wash battery storage complex for the life of the project as part of the firm’s growing portfolio of clean-energy assets. In 2022, Strata acquired Arizona-based Crossover Energy Partners and is currently hiring for additional local positions in its Scottsdale office.
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APS has vowed to reach 100 percent carbon-free energy by 2050. In 2021, Strata and APS announced the former’s plan to build a $450 million project to bolster the utility’s grid and be operational sometime in 2024.
Strata has developed, built and operated more than 170 utility-scale projects, tied to 7 GW of solar photovoltaic with some 4.2-GW of battery storage under management and 28-GWh in development across the U.S.
A tolling agreement is a type of long-term power purchase deal between utility and renewable or storage asset provider. The developer takes on responsibility for permitting, controls, interconnection rights, construction and commissioning, while the offtaker pays for the energy generated.
Sometimes, a utility acquires the projects sited and built by Strata and other developers. In April, Virginia-based Dominion Energy closed on acquisition of the Cerulean Solar project developed by Strata.
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(Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 15-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).
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