Co-location

The 360MW Mortlake solar-plus-storage project in Victoria, Australia, is the latest large-scale renewable energy project to be fast-tracked for development by the state government.

The UK and the Ireland I-SEM are also top markets for renewables and battery energy storage systems (BESS) co-location in Europe.

Ørsted has commissioned its Helena Energy Center in the US state of Texas, a 518MW co-located solar and wind project.

Ørsted has closed a US$680 million tax equity financing with JP Morgan for a solar project, alongside a solar-plus-storage project.

Aurora Energy Research's Panos Kefalas examines Southeastern Europe's energy landscape, including grid infrastructure and co-location.

Despite an awareness of the benefits that co-located storage and solar can offer, the commercial model for such sites has yet to materialise.

The EU highlighted a report showing that agrivoltaics on just 1% of the bloc’s farmland could grow installed solar to approximately 944GW.

The co-location of renewable generation and energy storage demands new contractual arrangements to make such projects commercially viable. Jack Rankin, Miguel Valderrama and Brian Knowles of Pexapark explore how hybrid PPAs are becoming a favoured solution for structuring deals that capture the full value of both assets.

Switzerland-based institutional investment group SUSI Partners has entered a development deal for two large-scale solar-plus-storage hybrid power plants in Chile.

Innovative power purchase agreement structures enable solar asset owners to boost returns and leverage their positions while providing offtakers with the opportunity to protect against increasing electricity prices and enhance their decarbonisation efforts.