It’s 7:56 am on a Wednesday morning. As you pour a second cup of coffee, somewhere in Northern Virginia, a mechanical failure forces a 230-kV line out of service. Then, unexpectedly, nearly 4 gigawatts (GW) of data center load gives the PJM grid an Irish goodbye and switches to backup generation.
The grid, and the people who help it run smoothly, aren’t thrilled.
While this particular large load transfer, the biggest (yet) in the grid operator’s history, did not trigger significant reliability impacts when it occurred on July 22, the resulting imbalance between generation and load and swings in voltage and frequency were far from ideal. This time, the PJM Control Center was able to balance the step change in generation and restore system frequency to 60 Hz within nine minutes, well within NERC standards, but according to Operating Committee Chair Emanuel Bernabeu, the event could’ve been avoided entirely if the affected data centers had better-tuned equipment.
“This was a normally cleared fault,” Bernabeu said. “They should not disconnect from the grid. These data centers are too sensitive to the kind of voltage that they , and we feel they are disconnecting too early.”
Such events are becoming frustratingly common. Similar situations in the Dominion zone caused sudden load transfers of about 1,500 MW each on Feb. 17, 2025, and July 10, 2024. Those, too, were handled without a major incident, but how many times can this happen before the dice land differently?
PJM isn’t interested in finding out. In response to the most recent drop-off, the operators of the nation’s largest grid will evaluate potential changes to interconnection reliability requirements, including existing and future ride-through standards and practices, specifically for computational loads data centers and crypto-mining facilities. PJM and Dominion say they’ll continue to jointly review the event and system impacts, eyeing stakeholder coordination for new standards.
Back in May, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued a Level 3 Essential Action Alert outlining seven actions registered entities should implement to address “immediate risks posed by computational loads” interfacing with the bulk power system (BPS). It came after NERC’s observation that “customer-initiated large load reductions and significant oscillations that occur in seconds, leaving little or no room for real-time responses, threatening BPS reliability.” Responses were due earlier this month.
Do you think a proper playbook will be in place before the next time a few gigawatts decide to dip? Or will it take breaking a few eggs to make that omelet?
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Call Me Nighthawk
Utility-scale developer, owner, and operator Arevon Energy is celebrating the start of operations at its 300 megawatt (MW) / 1,200 megawatt-hour (MWh) Nighthawk Energy Storage Project in Poway, California. Nighthawk is the largest standalone battery storage project in the company’s portfolio and is among the largest in the region. It is under a long-term agreement with utility Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E).
Nighthawk uses lithium iron phosphate battery technology to store electricity when demand is relatively low, during prime solar generation hours, and dispatch it during peak demand periods. The project enhances grid reliability in the San Diego region, providing enough energy to power up to 385,000 homes for up to four hours.
“Projects Nighthawk are critical to America’s growing energy needs because they strengthen grid reliability while delivering lasting economic benefits for local communities,” said Arevon chief executive officer Justin Johnson at the project’s ribbon-cutting. “We are proud to have developed, constructed, and brought Nighthawk online, and we look forward to its continued contribution to the San Diego region for years to come.”
Over its lifetime, Nighthawk is expected to generate over $30 million in property tax revenue, helping fund local schools, public safety, infrastructure improvements, and other essential community services.
Arevon has more than 4 GW in operation in California. Recent milestones in the state include the start of operations at its two-phase Eland Solar-plus-Storage Project, the Peregrine Energy Storage Project, the Vikings Solar-plus-Storage Project, and the Condor Energy Storage Project. Arevon’s 250 MW Cormorant Energy Storage Project is currently under construction in Daly City.
More from Arevon: New Arevon CEO Justin Johnson talks project timelines, FEOC concerns, and big batteries
Pulling into Safe Harbor
Philadelphia-based independent power producer (IPP) Doral Renewables has secured a $400 million common equity investment from its Israeli ownership group, Doral Group Renewable Energy Resources. The influx of cash will help Doral accelerate its business and meet Safe Harbor Timelines, capitalizing on remaining tax credits to maximize the attractiveness of its U.S. projects.
“Our investors believe in our commitment to farmers and farming communities,” said Doral Renewables CEO and co-founder Nicholas Cohen. “Farms are sophisticated businesses that make great partners, and listening to them, including investing in programs agrivoltaics, is also good for the bottom line. Everybody wins; we achieve more cooperation from farmers, which leads to much bigger projects, and leading institutional investors are excited to support our growth and in the strength of our project pipeline.”
In parallel with this transaction, Clean Air Generation LLC, which is wholly owned by Cohen, will exchange its ownership of Doral Renewables LLC membership interests for a mixture of cash and Doral Group stock. Cohen will continue to be an employee, serving as president and CEO of Doral Renewables and maintaining his seat on the Board of Directors. The composition of the Board of Directors and the voting ownership of Doral Renewables will also remain unchanged.
Check out Harvesting sunlight: Agrivoltaics is winning over middle America, a Factor This podcast featuring the VP of development and agrivoltaics at Doral Renewables, Ed Baptista
From the Ground Up
The City of Fresno, California, is thinking outside the box with its latest solar deployment.
Forefront Power recently achieved commercial operation of its first Erthos solar energy system at the City of Fresno’s Northeast Surface Water Treatment Plant. Untraditional ground-mounted solar energy systems supported by structural steel, Erthos’ Earth Mount Solar system places modules directly on the ground, eliminating the need to procure and install structural steel. With no row spacing, Erthos claims the highest energy density of any solar architecture in the industry, promising to distill the complexity of solar energy systems into a modular, repeatable design that cuts development costs and passes those savings on to ratepayers.
ForeFront Power approached the company in 2023, when a combination of inflation and supply shocks caused labor and material costs to spike. A traditional ground-mounted system at this site would have been significantly more expensive, forcing ForeFront Power to correspondingly increase the price of electricity it would sell back to the City of Fresno under a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA). Under its terms, ForeFront Power owns the system and charges Fresno a fixed, lower electricity rate than the utility for 20 years.
“After conducting our due diligence and vetting Erthos technology, we discovered that the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Plant was an optimal site for an Erthos application,” explained Erinne Davis, senior project manager at ForeFront Power. “Erthos helped us avoid significant, expensive civil upgrades, as well as the cost of steel for racking and the labor to install that racking. Realizing these savings on the installation is what enabled the project at this site to move forward.”
The Erthos Earth Mount Solar system is part of a sprawling solar energy and smart battery storage portfolio that ForeFront Power developed for the City of Fresno’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) at three sites: the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Facility, the Southeast Surface Water Treatment Facility, and the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility. At a combined 27 MW, the DPU projects are expected to over $122 million in ratepayer dollars by 2045. Since the system entered commercial operation in late March 2026, it has consistently outperformed expectations, averaging 101% of expected energy production, and has already delivered 862 MWh of energy to the City of Fresno.
Erthos will maintain the solar energy system, including regular cleanings of the solar array using its proprietary ErthBot PV array cleaner (pictured), an autonomous dry nylon-brush cleaning robot. Each ErthBot is designed to clean over 3.5 MW of solar PV array, making it a cost-effective method for cleaning large-scale PV arrays in the industry. Custom-designed for use on an Earth Mount Solar array, the ErthBot cleaner is deployed nightly as needed and returns to its charging dock after each use, ready for redeployment the ing evening.
Green for Cobalt
Global clean energy do-it-all Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar, is celebrating the successful close of $695 million in project financing and tax equity for its Cobalt Solar facility.
Located approximately 20 miles west of Blythe, California, in Riverside County, the 330-MW project is currently under construction and is expected to reach commercial operation by the end of 2027. It is Phase II of Recurrent Energy’s operating 1 GW Crimson Energy Storage site. Blattner Energy has been appointed as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) provider for the project, which interconnects via a 220 kV gen-tie to Southern California Edison (SCE)’s Colorado River Substation.
The debt financing package, totaling approximately $484 million, was led by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG) and Nord/LB, and includes a combination of construction and term loans, a tax equity bridge loan, and a letter of credit facility. In parallel, Recurrent Energy secured a $211 million tax equity investment from Wells Fargo.
“This project represents a significant addition to the U.S. energy landscape and will contribute meaningfully to meeting the country’s growing electricity demand,” asserted Dylan Marx, CEO of Recurrent Energy.
Beyond its contribution to clean energy generation, Cobalt Solar is expected to deliver tangible economic benefits to the local community, including approximately $14 million in property tax revenues for Riverside County. Once operational, the facility will generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of approximately 82,000 homes per year.
Sumber Artikel:
Renewableenergyworld.com
