WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. & SACRAMENTO, Calif.-Energy Vault Holdings Inc., a leader in sustainable, grid-scale energy storage solutions, along with Wellhead Electric Company, Inc. (“Wellhead”) and W Power, LLC, (“W Power”), a woman-owned business enterprise that develops and owns power generation facilities in California, today announced that the Stanton Battery Energy Storage System (SBES) is fully operational.
The 68.8 MW/275.2 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) in Stanton, California, one of the largest energy storage systems in Southern California, has commenced full-scale operations. The Stanton system is providing clean power and improved grid resiliency in Southern California Edison Southwest LA region by directly supporting and providing power for a high-demand load center. The BESS is located nearby the 98 MW SERC Hybrid Gas Turbine Project in Stanton, California, and in addition to increasing the resiliency of the local electrical grid, the BESS reduces the overall carbon intensity of the local grid.
Despite being located on a site with limited flexibility, construction of the BESS was completed in under five months, saw zero workplace injuries, and achieved maximum power output in record time. Testing conducted in July 2023 during a record-breaking heatwave met or exceeded expectations and technical performance commitments. The BESS is now being operated at full capacity and with continued high performance by Wellhead, one of the most experienced developers and operators of innovative energy generation and storage facilities in California.
Wellhead and W Power served as the developers for the project, and Energy Vault served as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor and system integrator, which was built with the Energy Vault’s proprietary X-Vault integration platform and Vault-OS Energy Management System to control, manage and optimize the BESS operations.
“The Energy Vault team designed and deployed the optimal energy storage solution for our Stanton site,” said Hal Dittmer, Chief Executive Officer, Wellhead. “Only a few days after mechanical completion the system delivered full power to the grid validating the quality of the design and execution. Energy Vault did an excellent job of providing a solution that met both the challenging energy density requirements and the equipment delivery time frames to enable the project to go forward. We are a satisfied customer, and we appreciate Energy Vault’s expertise, creative thinking and collaborative partnership in bringing this project to fruition.”
“The completion of the Stanton Battery Energy Storage System under such a compressed timeline and challenging site conditions, establishes a new benchmark in the energy storage industry since the 2016 Aliso Canyon emergency. The highly collaborative approach with Wellhead and W Power has exploited the full potential of our X-Vault integration platform and made possible to deliver on time and on budget a sophisticated HW/SW energy storage system that maximizes energy density and performances,” said Robert Piconi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Energy Vault. “I would like to thank Hal Dittmer and the Wellhead and W Power teams, who have been excellent partners throughout the process, beginning with the system concept and design through construction, completion and commencement of full-scale commercial operations. Special thanks to the team at Energy Vault that overcame many challenges and worked collaboratively with Wellhead to deliver something that has already made an impact to the local community and to our carbon neutrality goals as a nation., We are proud to turn the system over to Wellhead to provide clean energy and grid resiliency for the community for many years to come.”
