NEWS
January 27, 2024
USA Today | “This state is quickly becoming America's clean energy paradise. Here's how it's happening.”
Hawaii pledged to be “Coal free by ’23,” and state law mandates 100% clean energy in just 21 years. Attaining that goal came closer last month when Plus Power’s Kapolei Energy Storage, an enormous 185-megawatt battery near Honolulu, hummed into full operation.
September 12, 2023
The Texas Tribune | “As brutal heat tests Texas’ power grid, batteries play a small but growing role in keeping the lights on”
Battery supporters credit the technology for helping during tight times when every megawatt counts to keep the power on for Texas’ growing population. This summer, batteries have mostly sold their power to meet high demand around 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. when solar production winds down as the sun sets but temperatures are still high. Energy consultant and battery advocate Doug Lewin calls that the “white knuckle part of the evening” for ERCOT, when batteries’ relatively small contribution to the grid can still be “determinative” to meeting what has been record-high demand during Texas’ second-hottest summer ever.
August 3, 2023
The National Law Review | “Massachusetts DPU Approves Zoning Bylaw Exemptions for Two Energy Storage Projects”
The National Law Review on the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approval for Plus Power’s Cranberry Point Energy Storage in Carver, MA. “Per the Order, the Department also found that the projects are necessary and will provide public benefits, and that the alternative sites evaluated, or no-build alternatives, are inferior to the proposed locations and plans. The Department also evaluated public health and safety issues related to potential fire risks at the proposed project sites, details about battery operating technology, water and wetlands impacts and issues pertaining to land use.”
July 14, 2023
EnergyCapitalHTX | “Energy storage startup moves into larger Houston-area space, plans to grow team”
Houston media reports on Plus Power’s establishment of our headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas. “One of Plus Power’s storage facilities is the 100-megawatt Gambit project, which opened two years ago in Angleton. The nearly eight-acre facility supports power supplies for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which runs the power grid for 90 percent of Texas.”
April 13, 2023
AZ Central | “SRP starts work on Arizona's largest standalone battery project in this metro Phoenix city”
SRP and Houston-based Plus Power, joined by officials from Avondale, held a ceremonial ground breaking at the previously announced battery facility Wednesday. The new Sierra Estrella energy storage facility will hold electricity produced during low-use periods and release it when demand is higher, helping to power more than 56,000 average-sized homes for a four-hour period.
April 13, 2023
American Public Power Association | “Construction Nears on New Salt River Project Large-Scale Battery Storage Facility”
Officials from Arizona public power utility Salt River Project, Plus Power and the City of Avondale, Ariz., on April 12 gathered for a ceremonial groundbreaking to kick off construction mobilization at a new large-scale battery facility.
January 25, 2023
S&P Global | “Supercharged: U.S. Energy Storage Reaches for Deeper Impact”
The U.S. energy storage industry has a powerful set of new tools in 2023 to help decarbonize the nation’s power grid. Plus Power COO Julie Blunden joined Garret Hering’s Supercharged virtual webinar to discuss the opportunities and the considerable challenges ahead for battery storage. “It will be a while before we have fully domestic batteries for energy storage—but that may not be the requirement.”
October 27, 2022
Phoenix Business Journal | “SRP signs deal for two more battery storage stations to handle peak power demand”
Salt River Project said Thursday that it will add two new battery storage systems that will go online in 2024 with a combined output of 340 megawatts, giving the Arizona utility company more options during times of heavy power demand. SRP said it signed contracts with Houston-based Plus Power for the two projects, which will be built in Avondale and Gilbert.
July 19, 2022
Maine Public Radio | “Big batteries are quickly becoming part of Maine's electric grid”
Murray Carpenter interviews State Representative Mo Terry on Maine’s electrified future: “The storage facilities that we have right now are on the smaller size, 10-15 megawatts per facility, where the one that’s coming to Gorham is hopefully going to be up to about 150 megawatts of storage,” she says. That proposed facility, Plus Power’s Cross Town Project, would be about 17 times the size of the Tesla system near East Millinocket. That's about enough to power 150,000 Maine homes for two hours.
October 25, 2021
Canary Media | “Hawaii has a one-year deadline to ditch coal. Can it keep the lights on?”
Watch a 6-minute video in this story from Julian Spector at Canary Media on how the Kapolei Energy Storage project in Oahu serves as a linchpin to integrate higher amounts of customer-sited renewables—and more utility-scale renewables. Project Lead Scott Schalich agrees: KES will be a “postcard from the future for the mainland on decarbonizing the grid.”
August 18, 2021
Canary Media | “Hawaii building huge new battery, bidding farewell to coal”
Julian Spector describes the unique grid-forming and blackstart services of Plus Power’s planned 185 MW/ 565 MWh KES facility on Oahu, Hawaii, beyond its main role of absorbing abundant, low-cost renewable energy and shifting it to the grid when energy is needed most. “Put simply, KES is a test case for how to switch from fossil fuels to clean energy without relying on gas power in a pinch.”
August 6, 2021
Forbes I “Plus Power: Charging Into New Storage Markets”
Peter Kelly-Detwiler on Plus Power’s data-driven strategies to deploy utility-scale stand alone energy storage across the U.S.
February 11, 2021
Green Tech Media | “Plus Power Breaks Open New England Market for Massive Batteries”
San Francisco-based developer Plus Power won two bids in the latest capacity auction held by the New England ISO, which operates the transmission grid and competitive power markets in six northeastern states. That means that these two battery plants offered a compelling enough price to edge out some fossil fuel plants for delivering power on demand.