Scout to develop 850 MW wind-solar-battery project in USA

wpd and Scout Clean Energy have planned to add solar and battery storage components to a proposed wind farm that would be located just south of the Tri-Cities in Benton County, Washington, USA. The innovative development will combine wind energy, solar energy and battery energy storage in the same location - making more renewable energy available to customers during lower wind periods, and for short durations when the sun is not shining, and the wind is not blowing.

The project, called ‘Horse Heaven’, is a combination of two wind energy projects, which were initially planned separately by wpd and Scout Clean Energy. In 2019 wpd sold project assets to Scout including interconnection queue positions, land leases, and wind data. These assets were combined with those held by Scout to best position the hybrid wind-solar-storage project for the market. With Scout as the project developer, the two companies continue to cooperate in the development of the Horse Heaven project guided by a Cooperation Agreement that establishes wpd as a long-term investor.

The Horse Heaven project has now been realigned and further developed to expand the overall concept of the wind farm to include solar and battery storage components. The idea behind this is to design the project as a so-called hybrid system. By combining individual system components – wind energy, solar energy, and storage technology – the aim is to stabilize grids, increase efficiency and enhance the profitability of the overall project and make it more attractive for upcoming PPA negotiations.

The project is expected to be brought online in two phases: Phase 1 up to 350 MW is anticipated to begin operations no earlier than late-2022, while Phase 2 up to 500 MW is expected to begin operations no earlier than late-2023.