Los Angeles, Calif., Mayor Karen Bass on Aug. 5 announced the completion of the Eland Solar-plus-Storage Center project, one of the largest solar and battery energy storage projects in the U.S.
The power that will be generated by both phases of the Eland project –- Eland 1 and Eland 2 -– will meet 7 percent of Los Angeles’s total energy consumption while helping to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
The project was made possible through a collaboration between the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and Arevon Energy Inc., the developer, owner and operator of Eland, to procure the power produced from Eland under a long-term power purchase agreement. On average, the cost of generation and storage is about 4 cents per kilowatt hour.
In 2019, the Los Angeles City Council approved the two power purchase agreements that paved the way for Eland 1 and Eland 2 to be developed.
Since then, LADWP has worked to deliver the Eland project as one of the lowest cost solar and battery storage projects ever built that will deliver low-cost renewable energy to Angelenos for decades to come.
Phase 1 of Eland was completed and energized in December of last year. Now with Phase 2 completed, the project is forecasted to help L.A. reach 64 percent clean energy by the end of the year.
Over the 25-year term of the contract, the Eland power purchase agreement will save LADWP’s ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
LADWP has over 1,100 MW of utility-scale solar previously installed and Eland is unique in that it is LADWP’s first utility-scale, integrated solar and battery project.
Eland’s two large-scale solar facilities will capture a combined 400 megawatts of solar energy and store up to 1,200 megawatt-hours of energy — all of which can be distributed to customers to meet peak demand in the evening and night-time hours when solar energy is unavailable by discharging solar power after the sun has gone down.
Eland is the latest addition to L.A.'s several clean energy sources from the Barren Ridge renewable energy corridor in Mojave, sourcing solar and wind energy and transmitting it to Los Angeles.
“We are building a greener Los Angeles. The Eland Solar-plus-Storage Center project alone will generate enough power to serve more than 266,000 homes in Los Angeles and push the city’s clean energy share above 60 percent, a major milestone in L.A.’s transition to being powered by 100% clean energy by 2035,” said Bass. “This is L.A.’s clean energy future –- I want to thank LADWP, Arevon, and all of the partners who made today possible.”
“Today’s celebration marks a critical step toward LADWP’s accelerated goal of 100% clean energy by 2035,” said LADWP CEO Janisse Quiñones. “The Eland project represents what we need to achieve this objective -- scale, energy storage, reliability, and innovation -- while demonstrating what is possible when public and private sectors partner to benefit our city. This project has had the lowest cost for solar and storage, translating to more affordable bills for our LADWP customers.”
