Mission City Research

Xcel Energy to power new Google data center in Minnesota The project will provide a significant contribution to the state’s economy, including a large buildout of new clean energy projects.

Note: The specs for battery size are not a typo.

For more on this deal - here is the Xcel press release.
newsroom.xcelenergy.com/news/xcel-en...

#energysky

Google is coming to Minnesota and advancing clean energy goals An overview of Google’s new data center and collaboration with Xcel Energy in Pine Island, Minnesota.

Google will add:

1,400 MW of wind
200 MW of solar
300 MW/30 GWh of Form Energy batteries

to the Minnesota grid for future #datacenter usage.

#energysky

blog.google/innovation-a...

Berkshire Hathaway Energy Montana energises 150MWh BESS Berkshire Hathaway Energy Montana has successfully energised its 75MW/150MWh Glacier Battery System project in Montana, US.

The first utility-scale battery storage system is live in Montana - 75 MW/150 MWh.

BHEM is also building a 120MW solar system, which should go live this year. More clean energy for the #WesternGrid

Huge potential for solar/storage in Montana.

#energysky

www.energy-storage.news/berkshire-ha...

Former Smelter Site Now Home to 1.2-GW Pumped Storage Hydro Project Developers of a new pumped storage hydropower installation in Washington state said the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a 50-year

1) Here is some good news for the #WesternGrid and the Northwest in particular - 1.2 GW of pumped hydro storage with 12 hours of duration.

The Northwest needs to add a LOT more storage in the coming years.

Let's see if this project goes live by 2028.

#energysky

www.powermag.com/former-smelt...

Construction underway on 300-MW solar + storage project in Arizona Construction is underway on the 300-MW solar and 1,200-MWh storage Pioneer Clean Energy Center in Arizona. The project is developed by BightNight and

A. new 300 MW solar project is now under construction in Arizona. Also has 300 MW/1200 MWh of battery storage. The #WesternGrid continues to get cleaner.

#energysky

www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2026/01/cons...

The Trump administration recently ordered/forced coal plants in Washington and Colorado to remain open past their closure dates.

DOE Secretary Chris Wright said the region faces emergency conditions...

Where/what is this emergency? Coal generation has plummeted over the last decade.

#energysky

SOLON energizes Arizona's largest behind-the-meter solar project SOLON Corporation has completed a 8.75-MW behind-the-meter solar project at Tucson Water’s Central Avra Valley Storage and Recovery Project (CAVSARP) in

Here is a decent-sized (8.75MW) behind-the-meter solar project that went online last year in Arizona.

There are numerous additional municipal opportunities like this across the #WesternGrid.

#Energysky

www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2026/01/solo...

4) Solar generation has exploded in Texas. How high will the peak generation record go in 2026?

Thanks to @gridstatus.io for this info.

#energsky

3) Fossil fuel share continues to decline in ERCOT.

2015 = 76% ---------- 2025 = 54%

In the past year, almost all the decline was due to an increase in solar share.

#energysky

2) Note: Solar > Coal

This was the first year that solar beat coal on ERCOT for total generation.

1) ERCOT released its 2025 Demand and Energy report
www.ercot.com/files/docs/2...

Although overall demand increased by 26.2 TWh, fossil generation was flat, with an increase in coal mostly offset by a decrease in gas.

Most of the new demand was met by a solar increase of 19.6 TWh.
#energysky

800 MWh battery project reaches financial close for BrightNight and Cordelio Power in Washington Power company BrightNight and joint venture partner Cordelio Power have announced the financial close of its Greenwater Energy Storage Project, a 200 MW / 800 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) ...

Battery storage continues to spread across the #WesternGrid.

This 200MW/800 MWh project for utility Puget Sound Energy goes live in 2026.

Washington is just getting started with batteries - 4MW of capacity today - 2,000 MW over the next three years.
#energysky

pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/12/04/8...

Rays of power: Utah’s largest solar plant becomes operational, set to power Eagle Mountain data center A massive solar plant recently opened near Eagle Mountain in Utah County and will power a data center of one of the biggest technology companies in the world. Excelsior Energy Capital’s Faraday Solar ...

Massive new solar project goes live in Utah - 685 MW. More good news for the #WesternGrid.

Interestingly, this project is not listed in any of the EIA tables. Seems like a pretty big miss.

#energysky

www.heraldextra.com/news/2025/no...

This is a huge deal for #WesternGrid. This project will provide clean generation during non-solar hours.

Expect another 1GW to come online by year-end.

#energysky

The latest CAISO Key Statistics report is available for October 2025. Plenty of useful factoids within...

Here is one - almost 15 GW of utility-scale batteries on the CAISO grid.

www.caiso.com/documents/ke...

Good news for US Battery Storage. Peak Energy is based in California and Colorado.

It will be interesting to see how quickly sodium-ion storage scales.

#energysky

ContourGlobal secures $350 million, its first solar project financing in the U.S. The funds support ContourGlobal’s 324 MW solar project in development in Colorado.

The #WesternGrid continues to get cleaner. The contribution this time is from the 324 MW Black Hollow Sun project in Colorado. The first phase, 185 MW, is already live, and the second phase, 139 MW, will be completed by the end of 2026.

#energysky

pv-magazine-usa.com/2025/11/04/c...

Great to see the positive effects of renewables on the local level in rural America. An article worth reading.

Battery storage capacity continues to grow steadily on the CAISO grid. Currently nearing 15GW. As a reference - peak demand for CAISO was about 43GW this year.

Source: www.caiso.com/documents/ke... (Sep 2025 Key Statistics)

@californiaiso.bsky.social @calenergy.bsky.social

#energysky

More batteries/solar in California are also helping to make the entire #WesternGrid more resilient.

#energysky

Note: This project recently reached commercial operation. A nearby 25 MW solar project will go live in 2026.
The utility for this project is Mohave Electric Cooperative, which is part of AEPCO - Arizona Electric Cooperative.

Ameresco Announces 50MW Battery Energy Storage Asset to Enhance Resiliency and Energy Security The Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) is the largest behind-the-meter (BTM) project in Arizona and ranks as the fourth largest BTM installation…

This recent press release ticks all the boxes.

- New 50MW/200 MWh battery in Arizona
- Behind the meter!
- Helping to power a new electric arc furnace at a Nucor steel plant

Within five years, we are gonna see batteries everywhere.

#WesternGrid
#energysky

ir.ameresco.com/news-events/...

More good news for the #WesternGrid

#energysky

HVAC giant Carrier has a solution for AC's excessive grid load: home batteries Carrier engineers have come up with a scalable solution that can deployed yesterday: pair air conditioners with home batteries.

Potentially 100 GW of flexible demand... Even 20GW would be huge.

💡🔌

electrek.co/2025/10/01/h...

This may be true for the US, but the Western US continues to lower its fossil fuel usage at a steady pace.

The estimate for 2025 is based on the data reported thru July.

#energysky

California's first solar-covered canal is now fully online The 1.6-MW pilot system is among a growing number of initiatives to put solar over waterways. The approach could generate gigawatts of power nationwide.

I'm sure @dustinmulvaney.bsky.social is all over this, but just in case. @mariagallucci.bsky.social tells us "putting panels over 8K miles of federally owned canals and aqueducts could generate over 25 GW of renewable energy — enough to power nearly 20M homes" 🔌💡

www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...

Note: Battery capacity a year ago was 9,309 MW - or about 9.3 GW.

CAISO—@californiaiso.bsky.social is out with its latest Key Statistics report, this one for August 2025.

Plenty of interesting info in this report - worth the read.

www.caiso.com/documents/ke...

Below is a sample showing that total battery storage has now passed 14GW.