Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, an investor in renewable energy infrastructure, launched a new portfolio firm, Primergy Solar.
Primergy acquires, develops, and operates distributed and utility scale solar PV-plus-battery storage projects across North America.
Primergy Solar is an Oakland, California-based developer, owner and operator focused on distributed and utility scale solar PV-plus-storage projects across North America. Primergy is the primary investment platform for Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners’ activities in the solar-plus-storage market.
David Scaysbrook, co-founder and managing partner of Quinbrook, and Primergy’s chairman, said: “The industry is recognizing the increasingly important role that solar-plus-battery storage solutions will play in accelerating the energy transition. We believe that solar-plus-battery storage will dominate new energy infrastructure investment in the years ahead.”
Primergy will make direct investments from early stage development through acquisitions of operational assets as both primary sponsor and in joint venture with project development partners. Primergy’s team boasts in-house capabilities across the project value chain from project development, through construction and long-term asset O&M.
The company will be led by:
- Newly-appointed CEO Ty Daul joins from Recurrent Energy where he served as president.
- Tim Larrison was named CFO and joins from his prior role as CFO of ENGIE Storage.
- Adam Larner, previously a senior director of Primergy, has been appointed to the role of COO.
A cornerstone project for Primergy will be the $1.1 billion Gemini solar project on BLM land outside of Las Vegas — what will be the largest solar project in the U.S. when completed. The 690 MW facility was approved by the Trump administration last week.
Although 690 MW is large by solar standards, Quinbrook has experience developing 2,000 MW projects. Gemini “is a big power project, but not daunting. We’ve done plenty of that size in the past,” said the clean energy project developer.
Scaysbrook was confident that the installation would include trackers and bifacial solar modules.
“One of the purest forms of time shifting you’ll ever see.”
Gemini will include a mammoth 380 MW/1,400 MWh lithium-ion battery, one of the larger batteries being deployed today. Lithium-ion battery technology is specified by NV Energy in the PPA.
Gemini produces power year round, but the role of the battery is principally in the summer and particularly from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
With oversized solar and a one-time a day discharge in the late afternoon, it’s what Scaysbrook called, “One of the purest forms of time shifting you’ll ever see.”
The two-phase project is anticipated to be completed as early as 2022. There is a 25-year PPA signed with NV Energy for the power produced by Gemini.
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During the summer months, they have considered after hours air conditioning needs in the hot desert. Doubling the energy storage and keeping generation the same could also smooth out the grid over a 24 hour period, add value to the solar PV plant when one doesn’t have to curtail generation at any time and shift energy storage to later in the day and night. At some times of the year, one would have a 24 hour solar PV operation and other times of the year, one still has energy storage for times where solar PV is under performing and fueled generation can be stored and used more efficiently than buying power off of the spot energy market to meet grid demands.