Integrated, intelligent power plants for the modern grid
8minute’s next-gen power plants combine solar with smart storage solutions to prove that renewables can beat fossil fuels on price and reliability. Rather than viewing storage as an add-on component, our team designs the technologies to work as one seamless, intelligent system. This unique approach allows 8minute’s projects to operate more like a conventional utility asset – one that reliably generates, stores, shapes and dispatches power when it is needed most – but without the CO2 emissions.
We work closely with our customers to understand their unique needs, then engineer customized hybrid plants to match load, improve performance and maximize economic return. With the ability to react within milliseconds and ramp to full power in one second, our hybrid solar and storage systems can deliver flexible grid services, including energy arbitrage, transmission congestion, resource adequacy and more. By fully utilizing a system’s storage capabilities and optimizing grid integration, 8minute has unlocked the promise of smart, clean energy generation for forward-thinking partners and communities across the United States.
Our Next-Gen Project Portfolio
8minute has one of the largest project development portfolios in the country, totaling 18 GW of solar generation and 24 GWh of energy storage across California, Texas and the U.S. Southwest. Here’s a look at some of our recent work with leading utilities and community choice aggregators.
ELAND SOLAR & STORAGE CENTER
The Eland Solar & Storage Center is the lowest-cost solar-plus-storage storage project in the United States. Boasting a capacity factor of up to 60 percent during the summer months, the system will dispatch clean power, day and night, using existing transmission infrastructure. Eland will serve as a more reliable, more responsive asset than a gas-fired plant, simultaneously strengthening grid operations for LADWP and delivering low-cost energy to nearly one million people in the Cities of Los Angeles and Glendale.
Operations to begin in 2022; full capacity in 2023
Capacity:
400 MWac with 1,200 MWh storage
Offtaker:
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP)
SOUTHERN BIGHORN SOLAR & STORAGE CENTER
Southern Bighorn Solar is 8minute’s second collaboration with the Moapa Band of Paiutes. Located on the Moapa River Indian Reservation in Nevada, about 30 miles north of Las Vegas, ths intelligent power plant will be the largest on tribal land when it comes online. During the most valuable summer peaking hours, the facility will produce at a capacity factor of more than 65 percent.
Operations to begin in 2023
Capacity:
475 MWdc with 540 MWh storage
Offtaker:
NV Energy
REXFORD 1 SOLAR & STORAGE CENTER
The Rexford 1 Solar & Storage Center will provide enough clean energy for over 370,000 Californians, making it not only the largest solar-plus-storage project for the Clean Power Alliance, but also the largest for any community choice aggregator to date. The plant will offset about 600,000 metric tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to planting 12,000 trees every day for 10 years.
Operations to begin in 2023
Capacity:
400 MWdc with 540 MWh of storage
Offtaker:
Clean Power Alliance (CPA)
ARATINA 1 SOLAR CENTER
The Aratina 1 Solar Center will deliver clean, reliable, and affordable power to 93,000 homes through a groundbreaking community choice energy aggregation program in California. The project will offset carbon emissions by approximately 430,000 metric tons each year, equivalent to planting 7 million trees annually or removing 90,000 cars from the road.
Operations to begin in 2023
Capacity:
250 MWdc with 150 MWh of storage
Offtaker:
Central Coast Community Energy (3CE) and Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE)
Our Commitment to Continuous Innovation
From our inception, 8minute has refused to conform to the pre-conceived notions of how a solar developer thinks and operates. Our relentless focus on technology advancement is rooted in a desire to push the clean energy industry beyond the limits of what was previously thought possible. Take a closer look at how we’re innovating our way into the history books.
Technology-Driven Approach
8minute’s technology-agnostic energy storage strategy allows us to evolve with the market and deliver the most effective solutions for each project site and application.
We also take an active role in pushing innovation forward. Our team is constantly testing and evaluating new solar and storage technologies, both in small blocks on our operational sites and at our proprietary R&D facility, to optimize projects and better serve our customers. Additionally, 8minute partners with leading laboratories to test battery cells and characterize performance.
Our commitment to innovation yields engineering solutions that optimize system performance and reduce the levelized cost of energy.
Advanced Software Controls
8minute designed and built the first utility-scale implementation of controls for hybrid solar and storage plants. This patent-pending software integrates seamlessly with utilities’ existing SCADA systems to allow utilities to more easily integrate firm, dispatchable solar power into their daily mix.
Our novel tool conforms to the open, utility-supported and interoperable standards laid out by the Modular Energy Storage Architecture (MESA) Standards Alliance and has been field tested at the MW-scale in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). 8minute’s controls are now available as an open license to leading SCADA controls vendors and storage integrators.
Industry Collaborations
While we take great pride in our record-breaking accomplishments, we know that real change happens through collaboration. The 8minute team regularly contributes its unparalleled expertise in utility operations, energy storage controls and software development to critical industry working groups across the country. Together, we are committed to advancing the safe, affordable and scalable deployment of energy storage.
8minute is a contributing member of the CAISO Hybrid Resources Initiative working group, where stakeholders come together to develop protocols for hybrid resources or co-located renewables-plus-storage facilities to participate in CAISO markets.
As an Energy Storage Alliance (ESA) member and a participant in the Energy Storage Corporate Responsibility Initiative, 8minute is helping to define industry best practices for the safe and responsible deployment of energy storage systems.
8minute sits on the board of the California Energy Storage Alliance (CESA), where we advocate for policy and industry best practices to advance large-scale storage development across the state.
As an active member of the ERCOT Battery Storage Task Force, 8minute contributes to the development of procedures for standalone storage or renewables-plus-storage for the ERCOT market.
The Energy Systems Integration Group (ESIG) brings together a diverse group of energy organizations, research labs and universities to share credible information on the status of energy systems integration technology and deployment.
Through our membership in the Modular Energy Storage Architecture (MESA) Standards Alliance, we’re working to accelerate energy storage growth through the development of open and non-proprietary communication specifications.