NV Energy, a utility company invested by Berkshire Hathaway Energy Group under Buffett, has purchased two solar power generation and storage facilities from Primergy. The plan for a total of 600 MW of solar photovoltaic and 480 MW of battery storage has been approved by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission (PUCN).



These two solar energy storage projects will replace the North Valmy thermal power plant in Winnimaca, Nevada, which is about to be completely decommissioned. One of the two generator units at the plant will be decommissioned in 2019, and the second will be decommissioned in 2025.



These two solar energy storage projects are Iron Point and Hot Pot Solar, located in Humboldt County, Nevada, about 400 miles east of the same county in California.



Iron Point will combine 250MW (AC) of solar photovoltaic with 200MW of energy storage, with an expected production date of December 2023.



Hot Pot Solar is a 350MW (AC) solar photovoltaic power plant equipped with a 280MW energy storage system, expected to be put into operation one year after Iron Point is put into operation.



It is worth mentioning that the allocation and storage ratio of both projects is 80%, which may also be the reason why these two projects need to replace thermal power. Compared to the domestic policy of 10-20% new energy distribution and storage, if it is to replace thermal power, there is huge development space for long-term energy storage in the future.



The parent company of these two projects, Primergy, was founded by Quinbrook in 2020 and currently has a 1300MW (AC) solar photovoltaic and 3330MWh battery energy storage system in Nevada.



The company is also building a large-scale solar energy storage facility called Gemini in Nevada; Gemini combines 690MW of solar photovoltaic power generation with 380MW/1400MWh of battery energy storage. The project was approved by the US government to commence construction in May 2020. NV Energy and Primergy have signed a 25 year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) for this project.



Nevada's goal is to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. In this process, more thermal power generation will be replaced by energy storage facilities when solar energy is extended.



As early as 2018, California in the United States estimated that the total amount of wind and solar power generation was far from meeting energy demand.





If the wind and solar power is increased by four times, the total amount can meet the electricity demand, and it will be able to replace more thermal power. However, due to the time cycle of photovoltaics, there will be a surplus period of 8-12 hours of power generation, as well as a corresponding net electricity shortage of 8-12 hours.



Combining photovoltaic with long-term energy storage will solve this problem very well, bringing greater feasibility for photovoltaic to replace thermal power comprehensively.









With the continuous decrease in the cost of photovoltaic power generation, the progress of replacing thermal power with photovoltaic energy storage is also getting faster, and the cost reduction of energy storage has become particularly important.



The US Department of Energy has been providing funding to support the development of various new energy storage technologies since 2018 in order to reduce the full life cycle cost of more new energy storage to less than 5 cents by 2030. In order to provide a more fair evaluation of various energy storage technologies, the US Department of Energy has launched a standardized method for calculating electricity costs.



Based on the energy storage cost calculation method of the US Department of Energy, ZH Energy has developed an energy storage cost and investment return calculator called NeLCOS. We welcome everyone to try it out and provide feedback:
http://nelcos.z-henergy.com
Or follow the official account and reply: calculator
How to scientifically calculate the electricity cost of energy storage systems?

Reference source:
https://www.smart-energy.com/industry-sectors/policy-regulation/long-duration-energy-storage-must-grid/
https://arpa-e.energy.gov/sites/default/files/ documents/files/DAYS_ProgramOverview_FINAL.pdf