Officials in Rockingham County, Virginia, deny Special Use Permit for 600MWh BESS project

Although formed independently in 2016, Swift Current Energy is currently majority-owned by Buckeye Energy Holdings, which itself is owned through funds controlled by Australian asset management firm IFM Investors.

Alongside Swift Current Energy, IFM Investors is also invested in US renewables through its Nala Renewables joint venture with commodities trading company Trafigura. As reported by Energy-Storage.news last week, Nala progressed one of its standalone storage projects destined for Long Island in New York after months of uncertainty.

Through its Rocktown Power, LLC, subsidiary, Swift Clean Energy submitted its SUP application with Rockingham County officials at the beginning of the year.

According to plans, the 150MW/600MWh standalone facility in Timberville, Rockingham County, would utilise modular lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology from a “top tier vendor such as Tesla, BYD, Sungrow, Fluence, Wärtsilä, or Powin.”

Although slated to operate independently, the proposed site for the Rocktown Power facility is adjacent to another Virginia site also permitted for a 150MW/600MWh standalone BESS owned by Swift Current Energy, dubbed Prospect Power.

The proposed site for Rocktown is also adjacent to a small solar farm brought online towards the end of 2023.

Early development of Prospect Power was carried out by Clean Planet Renewable Energy, LLC, a joint venture partnership between Open Road Renewables and Eolian. According to information from Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, Swift Current Energy acquired the Prospect Power project during the first quarter of 2023.

Swift Current Energy negotiated an offtake agreement for Prospect Power with Dominion Energy as part of the investor-owned utility’s (IOU’s) 2024 renewable portfolio standard (RPS) investment plan.

Alongside familiar lithium-ion-based solutions, Dominion is also deploying two novel battery technologies from Form Energy (multi-day iron-air batteries) and Eos Energy Solutions (long-duration aqueous zinc hybrid cathode batteries, as reported by Energy-Storage.news.

Under the terms of the power purchase agreement (PPA) with Dominion, commercial operation of Prospect Power is scheduled to commence in 2026.

Under previous ownership, Rockingham County Board of Supervisors granted a SUP for the construction of Prospect Power during the final quarter of 2022. However, despite the widely publicised SUP approvals process, some residents who spoke at the recent Board of Supervisors meeting claimed they were unaware of plans for the Prospect Power project.

According to Harrisonburg, Virginia, news outlet The Daily Record, one resident said that although they had opposed the construction of the solar farm adjacent to the site for Rocktown, they were completely unaware of the Prospect Power proposal.

Despite the vast majority of battery storage projects operating successfully, especially ones utilising newer LFP technology, residents raised concerns over the potential of a BESS fire in the town and the effects it could have on the local water supply.

After hearing the concerns of residents, the Board of Supervisors rejected the permit on the grounds that it didn’t comply with the county’s comprehensive plan.

Following the denial, it’s unclear how Swift Current Energy can move forward with the project. Energy-Storage.news has contacted the developer for comment and will update this article when a response is received.

Swift Current Energy planned to connect its Rocktown project to the PJM Interconnection grid via Dominion Energy’s Endless Caverns substation through the 115kV gen-tie line extending from the approved Prospect Power project.

According to its application with Rockingham County, Swift Current Energy hoped to secure an offtake agreement for its Rocktown project with Dominion, stating the facility “is expected” to be contracted with the IOU “as a permanent part of its electric power infrastructure.

In terms of interconnection progression, PJM has studied 50MW worth of capacity for the Rocktown project, which is now pending approval.

PJM recently announced the successful applicants of its one-time Reliability Resource Initiative, which provides developers of shovel-ready projects a fast-tracked route for interconnection with the aim of delivering increased grid capacity before the end of the decade.

However, rather disappointingly, only five of the 13 projects given the green light for construction are BESS, making up just 2.275GW of the cumulative 11.79GW capacity. The majority of the new-build capacity will come from 6.1GW of combined cycle gas turbines (CCGTs).

After years of being overwhelmed with applications, PJM is in the process of overhauling its interconnection process from a “first-come, first-served” process to a “first-ready, first-served” approach.

In related news, Virginia’s state governor, Glenn Youngkin, recently vetoed a bill to increase energy storage procurement targets for Dominion Energy and fellow utility Appalachian Power. The utilities had been given portions of a 3.1GW by 2035 storage target, which was introduced in 2020 by then-governor Ralph Northam as part of the Virginia Clean Economy Act, aiming for 100% clean electricity on the grid by 2050.

However, as reported by Energy-Storage.news earlier today, Youngkin made the legislation one of 38 passed bills he vetoed on 2 May, several relating to clean energy policy and regulation.