Arlington Energy Center Improves Grid Reliability and Now Providing Power to CPA Customers

Clean Power Alliance is pleased to announce that the Arlington Energy Center II Storage Project achieved commercial operation and will begin providing over 120 MW/480 MWh of capacity to our local Los Angeles and Ventura County communities while strengthening grid reliability.  

CPA provides more customers with 100% renewable energy than any other utility in the nation and we have steadily been focused on reducing the use of harmful fossil fuels by making historic investments in local battery storage facilities.

Battery storage systems are important to our customers because they allow CPA to balance renewable electricity generation, which is intermittent, with customer electricity demand, which fluctuates. Often co-located with CPA’s renewable energy facilities, CPA charges its batteries during the day with low-cost clean solar power and then discharges that energy to the grid at night, when renewable energy generation is lower, but customer usage is still high.

Like the Luna Battery Storage Project, which became operational this summer in Lancaster, the Arlington Energy Center will allow CPA to reduce potential grid instability caused by sustained high-temperature weather events, as California experienced with the recent prolonged heat wave.

Natasha Keefer, Clean Power Alliance’s Vice President of Power Supply, believes that these facilities will have considerable positive long-term impacts on the reliability of California’s power grid. “The Arlington storage project demonstrates the importance of new battery storage resources for California’s reliable transition to a clean energy future,” she said. “NextEra was able to bring the battery online ahead of the unprecedented September heat wave, so the battery was able to contribute to meeting peak load during these critical grid conditions.”

Facilities like Arlington allow more energy to be provided to the grid during peak usage hours, avoiding the need for more drastic measures such as rolling power outages.

The Arlington standalone energy storage resource is located near Blythe, California and is the fourth storage resource in CPA’s long-term portfolio, in addition to the Sanborn, Luna, and High Desert storage facilities.

Sergei Kotsan

Sergei Kotsan serves the Energy Risk Manager for Clean Power Alliance. He has over a decade of experience working on quantitative research and modelling of the wholesale power markets as well as hedging commercial risk and market monitoring. He led commercial operations at TexGen and fundamentals research at Talen Energy on the power supply side. He also has utility experience at Portland General Electric and Pacific Gas and Electric evaluating market risks and financial valuation on the demand side. In addition, he worked at the Market Monitoring Unit at CAISO, developing dashboards and preparing market reports. Sergei holds Ph.D. in Economics from West Virginia University.

Rachel Allred

Rachel serves as Project Manager, Settlements for Clean Power Alliance. Rachel is responsible for reviewing and identifying discrepancies with our California Independent System Operator (CASIO) and bilateral counterparty invoices, validating transactions of wholesale market products, and performing after the fact analysis on settlements and Congestion Revenue Rights (CRR) to influence resource optimization and CRR strategies. Prior to joining Clean Power Alliance, Rachel served as a Power Settlements Analyst at Utah Municipal Power Agency for two years where she developed and finalized all settlement processes. Rachel earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Mathematics from Lewis-Clark State College.

Riju Mondal

Riju serves as the Website Developer, Communications and Marketing at CPA. He brings over 10 years of software development experience in addition to having a strong background in information technology and server infrastructure. Riju oversees all web related functions at CPA to ensure that the organization is able to effectively sustain meeting the requirements of its rapidly growing digital presence. Prior to joining CPA, Riju worked as a digital content developer at Claremont Graduate University where he developed and launched an online learning platform for the federally funded POLARIS mentoring program for museum professionals. More recently, Riju founded and operated a web development and digital marketing agency which served government organizations, non-profits, and other multi agency partners. Riju holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Information Systems & E-Business from Cal Poly Pomona. Riju supports CPA’s overall goal and mission to a cleaner, brighter future.

Jacob Adamson

Jacob Adamson is an Analyst, Data and Systems, at Clean Power Alliance (CPA), where he collaborates with the Data and Systems team to develop and maintain robust data analytics frameworks. Jacob supports cross-functional departments in data enablement and business intelligence, focusing on automating reporting tasks and assisting staff with data requests. With a background in engineering, information technology, regulatory analysis, and data analytics, Jacob brings a wealth of expertise to CPA’s work in the renewable energy sector. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geological Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines, is a former licensed professional engineer in the state of Colorado, and is a GCP certified professional data engineer. Outside of work, Jacob is passionate about outdoor recreation, conservation, and engineering sustainable community development.

Ammad Mansoor

Ammad serves as the Analyst, Strategic Finance at CPA. He comes to CPA with 3 years of prior experience in financial planning and analysis. Ammad most recently served as a Financial Analyst at Georgia Power, the largest subsidiary of the Southern Company. In this role, he supported various areas in the Customer Experience division where he ensured timely and accurate financial reporting, conducted monthly expense forecasting, and created 5-year budgets with the approval of the Georgia PSC. He also sat on the 2024 Budget Committee where he contributed to developing guidelines for the company’s budgeting process and identifying areas for cost savings. Ammad earned his Bachelor’s in Finance from the University of Central Florida.