NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GridMarket is thrilled to announce that partner United States Cold Storage (USCS) has selected renewable energy service provider and independent power producer Catalyze to deploy a solar and storage microgrid at the USCS McClellan facility in California. USCS launched its partnership with GridMarket in 2019 to achieve corporate sustainability goals of 30% renewable energy supply by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050. GridMarket initially applied its digital, AI-driven portfolio evaluation tool and worked closely with the USCS team to select the McClellan facility for the microgrid pilot.
“The McClellan site was the ideal candidate for our initial project,” said Oisin O’Brien, VP, Data Analytics and Project Development at GridMarket. “The review and launch coincided with planned warehouse expansion, the facility has high, volatile energy costs, current conditions in the California energy market are opportune, and both the corporate leadership and the team on the ground at the McClellan warehouse have been engaged and committed to the entire process.”
The project was facilitated from analysis to commissioning through the GridMarket platform. The GridMarket and USCS teams worked closely and collaboratively throughout the process, ensuring that the recommended design was feasible, aligned with corporate goals, and resulted in a high-value project on the best available terms. GridMarket hosted a competitive bid process through its secure RFP platform, with vendors from a prequalified group responding to the project specifications and requirements on the secure bidding portal. GridMarket worked with USCS to review and evaluate all responses and Catalyze was selected from a short-list of quality proposals.
“This microgrid project was facilitated and optimized through the intelligent data analytics, technology and vendor agnostic approach, and carefully curated competitive bid process of the GridMarket platform,” said Mike Lynch, Vice President of Engineering at USCS. “GridMarket’s coordination with the USCS team and other stakeholders has allowed us to create a solution that aligns with our corporate goals. We selected Catalyze from a group of strong proposals, and we are confident in their ability to meet our energy needs. The local team on the ground at the McClellan site has been fantastic, and we are thrilled to validate this model and demonstrate the tremendous value that such a solution will bring to our facility, the industry, and the broader market."
The project, which is the first phase of a strategically planned approach, includes 1.4MW dc solar, 750 kW/1,500 kWh battery energy storage system, and a microgrid control system. When completed, the project will be the first of its kind at a cold storage warehouse. USCS will purchase the system, which is forecasted to have a 6-year return on investment and save the facility $4.4 million over 25 years. The project will offset over 25% of current energy demand, generating an anticipated 2,400,000kWh in the first year of operation.
"We are honored to be the chosen partner for GridMarket and USCS to take this important step to decarbonize their facility through our solar, battery storage, and experienced microgrid construction and management resources," said Jonathan Port, President of Catalyze's PermaCity Division. "Our experienced and growing team has the dedicated solar and battery supply chain resources needed to enable the cold storage sector's transition to clean energy on a national scale. We believe USCS's efforts leading this sector will have an enormous influence and make one of the largest contributions in the industry towards mitigating climate change while securing much needed food supplies.”
Following the completion of the first phase solution and facility expansion, GridMarket and partners will turn their attention to a second phase of the project that will expand the existing system and dramatically increase value.
“We are already looking ahead to the second phase of this initiative onsite at the McClellan property,'' O’Brien continued. “Our plan is to expand the microgrid system and operations along with the expansion of the warehouse that is currently underway. The next phase will aim to offset 90-95% of the facility’s future energy demand, generating tremendous financial, environmental, and resiliency value for USCS. In addition to greater amounts of solar and storage, there will be opportunities to include other technologies, such as a fuel cell, that will further optimize onsite energy generation and use.”
Phase one of the microgrid project is expected to be operational by late 2022.
Press Contact
Jillian Caramanna-Seymour
GridMarket
jillian.caramanna@gridmarket.com
About GridMarket
GridMarket is an energy project optimization platform and global marketplace leveraging big data and artificial intelligence to accelerate the global energy transition. Working with property portfolio, individual energy consumers, governments, and utilities around the world, GridMarket identifies and tailors best-fit energy projects, engages top-tier global solution providers, and mobilizes financial markets to help partners meet energy and net-zero carbon targets. GridMarket has a substantial global pipeline and portfolio of successful projects, spanning diverse customer types and geographic regions. GridMarket uses its platform to open up new markets and facilitate distributed energy deployment through automation, predictive analytics, remote digital capabilities, and dynamic stakeholder engagement tools.
About United States Cold Storage
United States Cold Storage, Inc. (USCS), Camden, NJ, is a premier provider of public refrigerated warehousing (PRW) and related logistics services throughout the USA. With roots dating back to 1899, USCS has long served a diverse customer base with requirements ranging from primary storage to fully integrated third-party logistics. The company offers more than 330 million cubic feet of temperature-controlled warehouse and distribution space in 42 facilities located in 13 states including California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia. USCS is the third largest PRW Logistics provider in North America. It is a subsidiary of the U.K.’s John Swire & Sons Ltd.
About Catalyze
Catalyze is a leading national independent power producer (IPP) that develops, constructs, owns, and operates integrated renewable energy assets including solar, battery storage, and EV charging. By combining its proprietary technology, financial strength, and battery and electric vehicle savvy, Catalyze delivers standardized, yet configurable systems that unlock commercial and industrial markets. These offerings enable large portfolio commercial real estate owners, operating companies and their customers to extract greater value from their assets, take increased responsibility and ownership of their energy profile, and ultimately become part of the clean energy transition. Catalyze owns two proprietary technologies – REenergyze™, an origination-to-operations software integration platform that helps accelerate and scale the nationwide adoption of commercial and industrial solar and storage, and SolarStrap™, a mounting technology to install rooftop panels.
Catalyze is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado with offices in California, Massachusetts and Texas and is backed by leading energy investors EnCap Investments, L.P. and Yorktown Partners LLC. For more information, visit https://catalyze.energy/.
