AES purchases 2GW Bellefield solar-plus-storage project in California

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Reddit
Email
The 250MW Petersburg Solar Project, another large PV farm owned by AES Corporation. Image: AES Indiana via Twitter.

US utility AES Corporation has added the 2GW Bellefield solar-plus-storage project to its portfolio after acquiring it from the project developer, Avantus.

Located in Kern County, California, the Bellefield project is split into two phases, each with up to 500MW of solar and 500MW of four-hour duration battery storage (2,000MWh). The two phases are expected to come online in 2025 and 2026 respectively.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Unlock unlimited access for 12 whole months of distinctive global analysis

Photovoltaics International is now included.

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Unlimited digital access to the PV Tech Power journal catalogue
  • Unlimited digital access to the Photovoltaics International journal catalogue
  • Access to more than 1,000 technical papers
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

Phase one has a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) in place with one of AES’ corporate customers, the company said. Some of the backing for the purchase was provided by Alberta Investment Management Corporation, an investor in AES with a 25% stake in its growth projects. It invests on behalf of various funds from the province of Alberta, with over US$150 billion of assets under management.

“This significant acquisition accelerates AES’ deployment of unique renewable energy solutions to our key corporate clients in the California market,” said Andrés Gluski, AES president and CEO. “With the addition of Bellefield phase one, our signed PPA backlog grows to more than 12 GW, which represents growth of more than 80% from our current installed renewable generation fleet. The vast majority of this backlog is expected to come online over the next two years.”

Last month, AES revealed plans to triple its renewable energy capacity by 2027, adding 25-30GW in the next four years. Upon completion, the company said that Bellefield will be the largest solar-plus-storage project in the US. AES said that it plans to add 3.4GW of renewables in 2023, with 2.1GW in the US alone.

In February it flicked the switch on a 100MW Arizona PV project, with a PPA in place with social media giant Meta. Corporate PPAs form a large part of AES’ practice; it signed 1.3GW of PPAs in Q3 2022 alone.

7 October 2025
San Francisco Bay Area, USA
PV Tech has been running an annual PV CellTech Conference since 2016. PV CellTech USA, on 7-8 October 2025 is our third PV CellTech conference dedicated to the U.S. manufacturing sector. The events in 2023 and 2024 were a sell out success and 2025 will once again gather the key stakeholders from PV manufacturing, equipment/materials, policy-making and strategy, capital equipment investment and all interested downstream channels and third-party entities. The goal is simple: to map out PV manufacturing in the U.S. out to 2030 and beyond.
21 October 2025
New York, USA
Returning for its 12th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
25 November 2025
Warsaw, Poland
Large Scale Solar Central and Eastern Europe continues to be the place to leverage a network that has been made over more than 10 years, to build critical partnerships to develop solar projects throughout the region.

Read Next

June 20, 2025
Utility giant Engie North America has incorporated a precycling provision to incorporate solar panel and project component recycling into power purchase agreements (PPA) at four solar PV plants across the Midwest, US.
June 20, 2025
Akuo has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Imerys to develop a solar power plant in Texas.
Premium
June 20, 2025
Panellists discuss some of the challenges in European solar's financial landscape at an event organised at Intersolar Europe 2025 by PV Tech.
June 20, 2025
The Australian government has given the green light for a landowner-led 250MW solar-plus-storage project in Tasmania.
June 19, 2025
Spanish independent power producer (IPP) Sonnedix has launched Project Douro, a 150MW solar plant in Tarouca, northern Portugal.
June 19, 2025
The China Enterprise Bankruptcy and Reorganization Case Information Network has published a notice regarding creditor claims for Suntech.

Subscribe to Newsletter

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Webinars
June 30, 2025
10am PST / 6pm BST
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Solar Media Events
July 1, 2025
London, UK
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
July 2, 2025
Bangkok, Thailand
Media Partners, Solar Media Events
September 2, 2025
Mexico City, Mexico