McCoy BESS

Blythe, CA

The McCoy BESS Project involves the installation of a 250 MW/1000 MWh BESS facility with interconnection to the existing McCoy I Solar Energy Facility Black Creek Collection Substation. This project utilizes battery containers designed to connect approximately 250 MW of stored battery energy from the battery containers to Southern California Edison. ECI provided complete design of the BESS facility, including layout and siting, collection and interconnection, and the substation bay additions. This project also includes modifications to the Black Creek Substation. ECI, in cooperation with our subsidiary EPC Services Company, provided full procurement and construction of this facility as well.

The McCoy Solar project is an existing 250-megawatt solar farm located in Blythe, California. ECI has previously worked on the McCoy site, designing the facility’s gen-tie line. The McCoy 34.5 kV solar feeders are configured to generate into two main circuits, each with its own step up transformer (34.5-230 kV). The two main circuits then combine on the high side (230 kV) of T1 and T2 and deliver their power via a common 11.37-mile transmission line to the CAISO point of delivery (POD) at Southern California Edison’s 230 kV Colorado River Substation.

McCoy’s previous arrangement utilized CAISO high-side metering at the common bus to the POD. The CAISO meter calculated and applied line losses for the 11.37 miles to the CAISO POD and recorded the resultant revenue data in five-minute intervals for polling by the CAISO EDAS. However, a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) was proposed as an addition to the T1 and the T2 solar circuits. This BESS resource was planned to be CAISO metered on the low side (34.5 kV) of the project power transformer. ECI’s scope of work included the design of the McCoy BESS addition, which included adjusting the BESS low-side metered data to CAISO POD values and removing the BESS revenue values from the existing high-side meter for McCoy Solar. The result of this BESS addition was that the existing high-side meter for the solar resource now saw the site’s total resource generation, plus the added BESS resource generation. ECI also provided all SCADA integration services, including Points List development, IED and meter programming, and communications testing and checkout for the new facility as well as the substation additions required to interconnect the BESS facilities.

  • Key Facts and Highlights:
    • Existing 250-megawatt solar facility.
    • Designed BESS addition and all accompanying CAISO adjustments and updates.
    • Performed all SCADA integration for the new BESS facilities.

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