Goldman Sachs Renewable Power Announces Operation of One of California’s Largest Integrated Solar and Energy Storage Projects

The Slate solar and storage project is now serving Bay Area Rapid Transit, Central Coast Community Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, Stanford University and the Power and Water Resources Pooling Authority

Goldman Sachs Renewable Power, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Asset Management that owns more than 850 solar and storage projects across the United States (GSRP), today announced that its Slate solar and energy storage project is now in operation and serving five California-based organizations. The 390 MW solar plus 561 MWh storage project was originally developed by Recurrent Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian Solar.

The Slate project, located in Kings County, California, is supported by power purchase agreements with five California-based organizations - Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), the Power and Water Resources Pooling Authority (PWRPA), Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE) and Stanford University. The Slate project’s dispatchable solar plus storage power is essential to meeting the renewable energy procurement goals of each organization.

Jon Yoder, Head of GSRP, said, “We are thrilled that Slate is now online and serving California-based organizations. There is significant demand throughout California for solar and energy storage projects at this scale, and we look forward to continuing to invest in projects like Slate that will help facilitate the state’s transition to a carbon-free power grid. We thank our partners at Recurrent once again for delivering on this project and we look forward to operating this project for decades to come.”

To commemorate the start of the Slate project’s operation, GSRP hosted a ribbon cutting event today. Project stakeholders toured the site which will generate enough low-cost, clean energy to power approximately 126,000 California homes and displace approximately 369,310 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year. The battery storage component will enable the Slate project’s customers to obtain more carbon-free energy in the evening hours and ensure grid reliability during times of peak demand.

California Energy Commission Vice Chair Siva Gunda said, “Congratulations to all the organizations and individuals across both the private sector and public sector that contributed to making this project happen, helping put Kings County at the forefront of California’s clean energy future. Meeting the state’s 100 percent clean electricity goals requires an unprecedented amount of new solar and storage resources to come online and a tremendous amount of collaboration to build the type of solutions at the scale we need.”

Kings County Supervisor Joe Neves said, “We’re proud of the way we’ve grown the solar industry in Kings County, and we’re excited to have Slate, a landmark project for our State here in our County. This project provides new revenue to the County, jobs for our workers and opportunities for our farmers in addition to providing power when needed most by consumers.”

Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman and CEO of Canadian Solar, said, “Slate is a landmark project that will help California meet its leading renewable energy targets. We started developing Slate in 2015, and we’re proud that this project was contracted as one of the first utility-scale solar and energy storage projects in the state, thanks to the forward-thinking leadership among the projects’ customers. Recurrent’s energy storage business is now on an equal footing with our long-running solar business, and we’re pleased to demonstrate our execution capabilities on another project with our partners at GSRP.”

Over the past year, the project employed approximately 405 workers at peak construction, with 90% of the construction jobs filled by local skilled tradespeople from the Kings County area through the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers Local 100, Laborers International Union of North America 294, Iron Workers Local 155, Northern California Millwrights Local 102, Operating Engineers Local 3, Carpenters Local 1109 and the Electrical Training Center Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee. Along with indirect economic benefits that accompany solar project development, such as increased local spending in the service and construction industries, the Slate project will also have a positive economic impact on the local community by providing significant tax revenues for Kings County.

BART Board of Directors member Mark Foley said, “With the benefit of Slate Solar as a centerpiece of its supply portfolio, BART will maintain a power supply that is 100% greenhouse gas free, while substantially increasing its share of eligible renewable electricity to over 50% of its annual need. Equally important, the contribution of Slate Solar represents a step forward in the decarbonization of California’s transportation sector, currently the highest emitting segment of the state’s economy.”

Tom Habashi, CEO of Central Coast Community Energy, said, “This is a landmark project in California’s progress to renewable energy. It will deliver tremendous value for our 400,000-plus customers on the Central Coast. We’re fortunate to have invested early in projects such as this, which combine renewable energy generation with storage. Both are essential to building a reliable, renewable grid.”

Bruce McLaughlin, General Manager and General Counsel, PWRPA, said, “The Slate Solar Project, specifically with its co-located storage, is a perfect and timely addition for PWRPA. Slate promises to provide cost-effective, dispatchable, carbon-free electricity that is essential to ensuring the reliability of PWRPA’s operations involving the cascading interdependency of three “lifeline” critical infrastructure systems: energy – water – food & agriculture.”

Girish Balachandran, Silicon Valley Clean Energy CEO, said, "This is the first, new-build renewable and energy storage project to come online for Silicon Valley Clean Energy customers, and marks the next chapter for our agency. This project meets the ambitious carbon-reduction goal set by SVCE to accelerate the building of new renewable and storage assets in order to rapidly advance our regional and statewide decarbonization goals."

GSRP is proud to add the Slate project to its multi-gigawatt portfolio of renewable energy projects across the United States.

About Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Renewable Power

Bringing together traditional and alternative investments, Goldman Sachs Asset Management provides clients around the world with a dedicated partnership and focus on long-term performance. As the primary investing area within Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), we deliver investment and advisory services for the world’s leading institutions, financial advisors and individuals, drawing from our deeply connected global network and tailored expert insights, across every region and market—overseeing more than $2 trillion in assets under supervision worldwide as of December 31, 2021. Driven by a passion for our clients’ performance, we seek to build long-term relationships based on conviction, sustainable outcomes, and shared success over time. Goldman Sachs Asset Management invests in the full spectrum of alternatives, including private equity, growth equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure. Established in 2017, GSRP has sponsored more than 850 solar and storage projects across 27 U.S. states that collectively have a capacity of more than 2.6 gigawatts of clean, renewable power. Follow us on LinkedIn.

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