Correlate Energy, a distributed energy company that builds and finances commercial, industrial and residential clean energy solutions, announced it will develop its first microgrid project for a large privately held oil and gas company in Southern California.
The Los Angeles area customer, which Correlate Energy declined to name, has a 100-MW load spread across multiple locations. The first phase of the microgrid project will see up to 40 MW of solar and storage capacity installed at 20 of the client’s sites with an expected cost of more than $23 million.
The project is pending underwriting and final permitting.
“Having built up our team over the past year to fulfill such a project, we are extremely pleased to be in a position to complete our first microgrid project,” said Todd Michaels, CEO of Correlate Energy.
There are a number of privately held oil and gas companies operating in the Los Angeles area, including Warren Resources and Aera Energy.
Microgrids will lower costs, reduce emissions
With an electricity consumption equivalent to that of 75,000 households, the microgrids will allow the customer to lower its energy costs by providing power at a lower, fixed price. Additionally, the microgrids will provide resilience in case of grid outages.
In a statement, Correlate Energy said the microgrids will reduce its customer’s emissions, helping it to comply with California AB 32 carbon cap and trade requirements, which the state put in place to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Initially launched in 2006, California’s carbon cap and trade program aims to significantly lower the state’s GHG emissions. In 2016, California met its initial goal of returning to 1990 levels four years ahead of schedule.
In 2022, lawmakers extended the program with the goal of achieving emissions 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. The move was expected to facilitate increased adoption of microgrids.
Correlate Energy added that the project can also benefit from California’s low-carbon fuel standard credits, which are designed to decrease the carbon intensity of the state’s fuel pool.
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