LRE Puts 504-MWh Antelope Valley Battery Storage System into Operation

    May 30, 2025
    The Antelope Valley BESS is LRE’s seventh low-carbon or carbon-free energy project in California. Antelope Valley will charge during low demand and support the grid by discharging during peak periods.
    Antelope Valley BESS Image Credit LRE/Business Wire
    Antelope Valley BESS Image Credit LRE/Business Wire

    Longtime wind power developer LRE, formerly Leeward Renewable Energy, has expanded its utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) portfolio and just brought its latest project online in Kern County, California.

    The Antelope Valley BESS is LRE’s seventh low-carbon or carbon-free energy project in California and brings total installed capacity to 595 MW statewide. LRE announced the start of operations on its 352-MWh Chaparral Springs Bess in California earlier this month.

    The 126-MW/504-MWh Antelope Valley BESS is powered by Powin Energy’s lithium iron phosphate batteries.

    The battery storage will provide grid services to California’s electricity delivery system by storing energy during low demand and discharging during peak demand.

    “Bringing the Antelope Valley BESS facility online is a major milestone for LRE and reflects our commitment to accelerating energy innovation in California,” said Sam Mangrum, EVP Project Execution at LRE, in a statement. “As our first stand-alone battery project, it expands our capabilities to deliver dispatchable power when and where it is needed most. We are proud to support the broader energy market as California transitions to a cleaner, more resilient grid that can meet growing demand.”

    Earlier this year, LRE announced more than 700 MW of renewable energy projects in Oklahoma which will be supported by long-term power purchase agreements with Google. Construction has begun on the 372-MWac Mayes County Solar Portfolio, located just within one mile from Google’s data center in Pryor, Oklahoma. Together with the Twelvemile Solar Project 1 & 2 (152.5 MWac) and the Twelvemile 3 Solar Project (200 MWac), located in southern Oklahoma, these projects total 724 MW (alternate current) solar capacity in Oklahoma.

    LRE purchased the Mayes County Solar Portfolio earlier this year from Red River Renewable Energy, LLC (“Red River”), a joint venture between SunChase Power, LLC and Eolian, L.P.

    The U.S. Energy Information Administration predicted that solar and battery storage will lead all new power generation additions, even natural gas-fired plants, in 2025. The EIA estimated that more than 18 GW of utility-scale battery systems would be built in the U.S. this year, about 30% more than the record 14+GW achieved in 2024.

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    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.