MCE, a not-for-profit public agency based in California, announced approval for its largest battery-storage project to date. The Golden Fields Solar project, located in Kern County, will provide enough power for an estimated 52,000 homes each year.
The Golden Fields Solar project was selected after MCE’s annual solicitation for renewable energy and storage projects. With unanimous support by MCE’s Technical Committee of the Board, this new large-scale solar-plus-storage facility will generate 100MW of solar energy with a co-located 75MW lithium-ion battery.
The project is expected to come online in March 2025 for a 15-year term. Golden Fields Solar will be constructed with union labor using a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) and will include pollinator-friendly habitat throughout the project site. In addition, the project developer has pledged $100,000 and 100 hours of employee time toward community benefit initiatives that directly benefit MCE’s service area and communities adjacent to the project location.
The Golden Fields Solar project will help MCE meet the California Public Utilities Commission’s mid-term reliability mandate, which requires MCE to procure an additional 72MW of solar plus 5-hour dispatch storage capacity by 2025.
MCE is a load-serving entity supporting a 1,200MW peak load, and it is dedicated to offering renewable energy at stable rates. It currently provides electricity service and programs to more than 540,000 customer accounts and more than one million residents and businesses in 37 member communities across four Bay Area counties: Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, and Solano.
