Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company (GREC) has announced the switch has been flipped at their 22MW Rawhide Prairie Solar project in Colorado.
Supplementing the project with 2 megawatt hours (MWh) of battery storage is a Tesla Megapack.
The facility covers approximately 150 acres of land in northern Colorado, and is GREC’s first project pairing solar and battery storage.
Tesla’s battery pack will store up to 2MWh of energy that will be used to provide cheaper, more reliable power during times of peak demand. It will also be used when the facility is not producing enough power due to cloudy conditions.
“Rawhide Prairie Solar was our first solar-plus-storage project, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see it up and running. Energy storage will play a crucial role in the future of renewable energy, bringing many practical benefits to consumers and the community, as well as advantages for producers and offtakers of clean power,” said GREC CEO Charles Wheeler.
The project sits adjacent to the Rawhide Flats Solar installation that can produce 30MW of power, giving a total solar capacity of 52MW from the two sites.
Tesla Megapacks will also be used in a high profile project announced yesterday. Apple will be installing 85 Tesla Megapacks at its solar farm in northern California to store 240MWh of electricity.
