Kern County Welcomes New Solar and Battery Storage Facility

The Azalea Solar and Storage project has entered into its commercial operations in Kern County, California.

Idemitsu Renewables developed the project which combines 60 MW of installed solar with a 38-MW/152-MWH battery storage array. Azalea is supported by a long-term power purchase agreement with Sonoma Clean Power Authority.

"The Azalea project coming online is an exciting milestone," said Geof Syphers, CEO, Sonoma Clean Power, in a statement. "It helps Sonoma Clean Power continue delivering clean energy to our communities and supports the State's work to get the most value out of daytime solar and improve grid flexibility during peak hours."

The project is designed to generate enough carbon-free electricity to power approximately 20,000 homes across Sonoma and Mendocino Counties annually, offsetting 50,000 metric tons of CO₂ each year. Construction was led by SOLV Energy, a renewables engineering, procurement, and construction services provider.

The battery energy storage system will help the project to store daytime generation and dispatch energy during evening and peak demand periods, while supporting grid reliability and ancillary services.

Construction financing was provided by a bank consortium consisting of Mizuho Bank, Commerzbank AG, and U.S. Bank N.A. The U.S. Bank also provided tax equity investment to the project.

Kern County has been a longtime home to microgrid, distributed energy and renewable projects such as Azalea and collaborations involving Pacific Gas & Electric, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Kern County Community College District.

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