ReVolve Renewable Power Corp (TSX-V:REVV) has provided an update on its Vernal Battery Storage (BESS) project, saying it plans to ramp up development activity at the project next year.
The 80MWh/20MW BESS project is located on a 47-acre land parcel wholly owned and administered by the State Land Trust in Uintah County, four miles north of Vernal, Utah. It is the company's first stand-alone battery storage project under development in the US, which is a fast-growing segment of the country’s energy market.
Revolve said it has planned “a very active work programme” during 2023 and is targeting a ready-to-build (RTD) date of 2024 for the project.
READ: Revolve Renewable Power targets 2024 ready-to-build timeline for Parker solar project in Arizona
In a statement, Steve Dalton, Revolve CEO said: "We are excited about the progress being made on the Vernal BESS battery storage project, our first battery storage project in our US utility-scale portfolio.
“We look forward to working towards some key project milestones during the course of next year ahead of a target ready to build status in 2024."
Development activity on the Vernal BESS project started in May 2021 with the submission of an application to lease the project site from the State Trust in Utah. This was followed by the submission of an interconnection application and scoping for the permitting required for the project.
A lease agreement was signed with the State Trust in January 2022, which allows for the development, construction and long-term operation of the Vernal BESS project. The current acreage under contract is 47 acres although the final project site is expected to utilise a much smaller footprint, Revolve noted.
In May this year, the company applied for an interconnection with Pacificorp, the transmission system operator/owner of the interconnection infrastructure located adjacent to the project site, as part of their 2022 Cluster 2 study.
The company said the results of this first phase of the study process, received recently, are now being assessed in conjunction with its technical advisers.
Based on the analysis to date, Revolve expects to advance the project to the next stage of the study process in early 2023.
Permitting work on the project will commence in the first quarter of next year. It is estimated it will take up to 18 months to achieve full approval given the relevant authorities are supportive of the project, the company said.
The ramp-up of development activity planned for 2023 will focus on the following:
- Interconnection – completion of the Phase Two study by Pacificorp and subject to the results of this study, the company will continue to the next phase of the interconnection process;
- Environmental & Permitting – commencement of the work to prepare applications for the state and local county permits required for the project. These include completion of a plan of development for the project, a cultural resources survey and report, a conditional use permit and easements/permits required for the short transmission line that will be constructed to connect into the nearest substation;
- Commercial – the company is also actively following the All-Source Request for Proposal (RFP) issued by Pacificorp in April this year. The RFP is targeting 1,945MW of new wind, solar and battery storage capacity to assist Pacificorp to meet the objectives set out in its 2021 Integrated Resource Plan (IRP). Submissions to this RFP are due in Q1 2023 from projects that can achieve a commercial operation date by December 31, 2026.
Revolve was formed in 2012 to capitalize on the growing global demand for renewable power. The company develops utility-scale wind, solar and battery storage projects in the US and Mexico with a portfolio of around 3,600MW under development.
Going forward, Revolve is targeting 5,000MW of utility-scale projects under development in the US and Mexico, and in parallel is rapidly growing its portfolio of revenue-generating distributed generation (DG) assets.
Contact the author at jon.hopkins@proactiveinvestors.com