Origis Energy and Mitsubishi Power to Bring Battery Energy Storage Projects to the Southeast United States

Origis Energy, one of America's largest solar and energy storage developers, has contracted Mitsubishi Power Americas to deliver three utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects totaling 150 megawatts / 600 megawatt hours. The projects will be co-located with three Origis Energy photovoltaic solar facilities in the Southeast United States to reduce curtailment of excess solar generation which will enable greater efficiency and higher capacity of the sites.

Origis will use the Mitsubishi Power Emerald storage solution for the three projects, successively coming online over the next two years. Origis has pioneered large-scale solar in the Southeast, working with leading utilities, municipalities and electric cooperatives to deploy over 1.5 gigawatts of operational and contracted projects in the region. The company's U.S. total for operational and contracted solar and BESS projects is over 4 GWs. Energy storage enables Origis to add grid services to renewable energy generation. Consequently, Origis has 2.3 gigawatt hours (GWh) of BESS projects contracted or in negotiation with 13.7 GWh currently being developed.

Origis and Mitsubishi Power Energy Storage

Representative illustration of the solar with storage project, including solar energy and battery energy storage system clean energy solutions. (Credits: Origis Energy and Mitsubishi Power)
"Storage of renewably generated power is an increasingly important grid asset," said Kenneth Kim, Vice President, Engineering & Strategy Planning, Origis Energy. "By adding the BESS solution to these facilities, we increase the value of the asset, adding enhanced grid solutions to clean, cost-effective solar power. We thank Mitsubishi Power for their collaboration on these projects, creating long term benefits for our customers."

The BESS projects will employ Mitsubishi Power's Emerald Integrated Plant Controller - an Energy Management System (EMS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system - that instructs the BESS when to charge and deploy, monitors status, sends alarms and alerts, and enables long-term data storage.

"The Emerald storage solution technology we're delivering for Origis follows rigorous NERC CIP and IEC 62443 Security Development Lifecycle Process policy and processes aligned to industry best practices," said Alejandro Schnakofsky, Vice President of Global Strategy, Energy Storage Solutions, Mitsubishi Power Americas. "It is imperative in everything we do to protect energy systems and operators with the strongest level of cybersecurity possible."

Mitsubishi Power has more than 2.5 GWh of utility-scale BESS projects in various stages of deployment globally that increase renewable efficiency, capacity, and flexibility.