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FlexGen to deploy 15MW BESS in Puerto Rico for Arclight and Infinigen

Energy-Storage.News · Cameron Murray · last updated

FlexGen to deploy 15MW BESS in Puerto Rico for Arclight/Infinigen

System integrator FlexGen has partnered with IPP Arclight and its subsidiary Infinigen Renewables to deploy a PV co-located 15MW BESS project in Puerto Rico.

The companies announced the project, which will pair 32MW of solar with a 15MW battery energy storage system (BESS), yesterday (18 April).

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It will be deployed in the Yabucoa Municipality of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated overseas territory of the US in the Carribbean, paired with the YFN Yabucoa Solar Project.

FlexGen said it will provide reliability and flexibility to the local grid and comply with ‘some of the most demanding grid specifications’ from the islands’ transmission system operator (TSO) Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, using its HybridOS energy management system (EMS).

Kelcy Pegler, CEO of FlexGen, added: “Energy storage is critical to helping Puerto Rico with extreme weather and grid reliability. The island also has some of the strictest grid requirements in the world.”

Puerto Rico has been rebuilding and increasing the resiliency of its energy sector over the last few years after hurricanes in 2017 and a 2020 earthquake damaged or destroyed up to 80% of its grid infrastructure.

This includes through grid-scale solar and storage projects like ones we’ve recently reported on by EPC firm DEPCOM and IPP Genera PR as well as home battery virtual power plants (VPPs) like a 17MW scheme spreadheaded by US residential energy solutions and management firm Sunrun.

Arclight is a US-headquartered independent power producer (IPP) of primarily gas plants but has made big plans to deploy BESS technology at those sites as they are brought out of service. It launched Infinigen Renewables with a US$400 million capital commitment in 2021 to develop and operate its renewables assets, while launching a separate BESS developer Elevate last year.

Related Knowledge Center: ENERGY BASICS: nuclear

State of Play

Nuclear energy provides almost 20 percent of the U.S. electricity supply. Advocates have called for an expanded role for nuclear as an emissions-free fuel source. But the economics of building new reactors are daunting. In addition, lingering safety concerns are an institutionalized part of the calculation of nuclear regulation, and highly radioactive nuclear waste remains a can that public officials have been inclined to kick down the road. The Energy Information Administration projects a sharp decline in nuclear power generation over the next decade, as new nuclear plants — two are planned — are more than offset by anticipated retirements of several operating reactors.

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