BLM Announces Completion of Crimson Energy Storage Project
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Crimson Energy Storage Project expands grid capacity with a 350 MW, 1400 MWh utility-scale battery in Riverside County, supporting renewable energy, grid reliability, and carbon-free electricity goals under BLM and DRECP planning.
What's Going On
A 350 MW, 1400 MWh grid battery in Riverside County boosting reliability and supporting clean energy goals.
Delivers up to 1,400 MWh, paired with 350 MW output capacity
Supports California grid modernization and clean energy goals
Located on 2,000 acres near Blythe under the DRECP land plan
Created 140 union jobs; aligned with the Crimson Solar Project
The Bureau of Land Management announced that construction of the Crimson Energy Storage Project, a 350-megawatt battery storage system in eastern Riverside County, is now complete, and the system is in operation and expanding grid capacity. The battery storage project will provide 1400 megawatt-hours of electricity at full capacity and, aligning with U.S. battery storage trends, is a significant milestone in the Biden-Harris administration’s efforts to modernize America’s power infrastructure in the West and achieve a goal of 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2035.
“The BLM is proud to support responsible development of renewable energy projects as part of our mission to sustainably manage public lands,” said BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning. “The Crimson Solar project is one of the largest standalone battery energy storage projects on BLM-managed lands and, as lower-cost batteries accelerate adoption, showcases the agency’s commitment to meeting the Nation’s energy and economic needs with 21st Century technology.”
The Crimson Energy Storage Project created 140 union jobs during peak construction. The storage project is part of the larger Crimson Solar Project, aligning with California solar projects underway, to be constructed at a future date. The entire project includes approximately 2,000 acres of BLM-managed land, located 13 miles west of Blythe in Riverside County.
The Crimson Energy Storage Project is in an area analyzed and identified as suitable for renewable energy development as part of BLM’s Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan Land Use Plan Amendment. The Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan is a landscape-level plan focused on 10.8 million acres of public lands in the desert regions of seven California counties that helps renewable power developers streamline renewable energy development while conserving unique and valuable desert ecosystems and providing outdoor recreation opportunities. To approve these sites for renewable energy projects, the Department of the Interior and the BLM work with Tribal governments, local communities, state regulators, industry, and other federal agencies on efforts like Wyoming-to-California wind that advance clean energy.
Within the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan planning area, there are 19 renewable energy projects at different stages of review, reflecting record solar and storage growth, with the potential to add approximately 7,000 megawatts of production on BLM California public land.
In 2021, the BLM approved the Crimson Solar Project, which authorized Sonoran West Solar Holdings, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Recurrent Energy, LLC, to construct a 350-megawatt solar photovoltaic facility and 350-megawatt battery storage system, similar to battery storage projects enabling wind integration, with support facilities to generate and deliver power through the Southern California Edison Colorado River Substation.
