RES nears completion of Chicago-area energy storage projects

Renewable Energy Systems Americas Inc. (RES) said on Nov. 10 that it has completed substantially all of the construction on two Chicago-area energy storage projects. The Jake Energy Storage Center and Elwood Energy Storage Center, which are commercial stand-alone projects, bring RES' total energy storage construction portfolio to 77 MW, with a 154 MW operating range, and 47 MWh.

RES developed and constructed the two energy storage systems, each with 39.6 MW of operating capacity, the ability to store 7.8 MWh of energy, and a nameplate capacity of 19.8 MW. The Jake Energy Storage Center is located in Joliet, Ill., and the Elwood Energy Storage Center is located in West Chicago.

The projects are interconnected to Commonwealth Edison Company’s electric grid and will provide real-time frequency regulation service to the PJM Interconnection ancillary services market. In addition, the projects will operate 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year by responding almost instantly to the continually changing needs of the grid.

RES said that the company worked with its local development partner GlidePath Power and the cities of West Chicago and Joliet on project siting and construction to minimize effects to the local communities. RES also said that on Oct. 22 it closed on the financing of the two projects with Prudential Capital Group.

According to the company, the financing included a preferred equity investment from Prudential Capital Group, which is an investment business of Newark, N.J.-based Prudential Financial and The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Lincoln National Corporation, representing approximately 50 percent of the total equity. In addition, the financing included non-recourse senior secured project financing debt representing approximately 50 percent of the total project costs.

RES said that the financing package is one of the first non-recourse senior project financings completed for a utility-scale battery storage system in North America. "Prudential Capital Group is very excited to be part of this transaction,” Ric Abel, a managing director with Prudential Capital Group's Energy Finance Group – Power, said in a statement. “Helping to finance frequency control technology expands our participation in the market place, and it is another example of how we provide capital in multiple parts of the capital structure."

http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/articles/2015/11/res-nears-completion-of-chicago-area-energy-storage-projects.html