On Wednesday, Texas-headquartered, publicly listed retail electricity provider Vistra formally announced that Phase I of its flagship Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility has been up and running, connected to Monterey County, California’s utility grid since December 11. The lithium-ion battery storage system, which currently has a production capacity of 300MW/1,200MWh is on track to become the largest such battery energy storage system in the world.
Construction has already begun on Phase II of the project, which upon completion in August 2021 will bring total production capacity at Moss Landing to 400MW/1,600MWh. Phases I and II of the Vistra Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility are supported by long-term resource adequacy contracts with California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E).
“This is a keystone project and it is important in so many ways – it revitalizes an existing power plant site and utilizes active transmission lines, enhances grid stability, fills the reliability gap created by intermittent renewables, provides emission-free electricity, supports California’s sustainability goals and mandates, significantly benefits the local community, and ultimately provides affordable electricity to consumers,” Vistra CEO Curt Morgan said in an official announcement from the company. “A battery system of this size and scale has never been built before. As our country transitions to a clean energy future, batteries will play a pivotal role and the Vistra Moss Landing project will serve as the model for utility-scale battery storage for years to come.
“We appreciate the strong working relationship we’ve developed with PG&E on multiple projects and look forward to continuing to help meet its resource adequacy requirements and provide clean, reliable, and affordable power to Californians.”
California State Senator John Laird also lauded the project, saying, “As the largest of its kind in the world, the Vistra Zero Moss Landing Energy Storage Facility will store renewable energy, releasing it when it is needed most. It is meaningful, ambitious projects like these that will help to pave the way to a 100 percent clean energy future for California and the rest of the world.”
Vistra Zero
With its existing infrastructure and physical space for potential growth, Vistra’s Moss Landing industrial-zoned site can support up to 1,500 MW/6,000 MWh of storage capacity should market and economic conditions support it. With the development permit already in place and the site in condition for expansion, Vistra says the company will be able to move quickly when that time comes.
The Moss Landing project is the flagship of Vistra’s 4,000-MW, zero-carbon Vistra Zero portfolio of five battery energy storage projects in California and Texas. In addition to Moss Landing Phases I and II, the Vistra Zero portfolio includes a 10MW battery storage project in Upton County, Texas (Upton 2), which has been online since December 2018, a 36.25MW project in Oakland, California and a 260MW project in Hood County, Texas (DeCordova), both of which are expected to come online in 2022.
Vistra provides power generation products and services to markets in 20 states and the District of Columbia, including six of the seven competitive wholesale markets in the U.S., as well as markets in Canada and Japan. Vistra is the largest competitive residential electricity provider in the country, providing electricity and natural gas to nearly 5 million residential, commercial and industrial retail customers, and offering more than 50 renewable energy plans. Vistra is also the largest competitive power generator in the U.S., with a capacity of around 39,000MW capacity powered by natural gas, nuclear, solar and battery energy storage facilities. The company is also a major purchaser of wind power.
