AES Corporation, the power company, has completed construction of the almost 1000 MW Bellefield 1 Project in Kern County, California. The complete project happens to include 500 MW of solar as well as 500 500MW/2000 MWh of battery storage. Bellefield 1 happens to be a part of Bellefield, which is a two-phase project, each of which consists of 500 MW of solar as well as a 500 MW four-hour battery energy storage system (BESS).
Apparently, once the Bellefield is completed, the 2000 MW project – 1000MW solar as well as 1000 MW/4000 MWh BESS—is all set to be the largest solar-storage facility in the US. It is well to be noted that this project has a 15-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with Amazon. Interestingly, the Bellefield project was acquired by AES from the project developer Avantus in 2023.
According to AES, more than 700 union jobs were created during the construction of Bellefield 1, and almost 1000 union jobs are anticipated to be created at the peak of construction of Bellefield 2.
It is worth noting that the company also anticipates quite significant earnings from placing Bellefield 1 in service in the second half of 2025. The construction of Bellefield 2 is all set to be completed in 2026. In order to assist in construction, AES has gone on to use Maximo, which is its AI-enabled robotic system that, according to the company, has improved the safety, preciseness, and speed of solar module installation.
It is well to be noted that Maximo happens to be a robotic arm, which performs solar panel installation and, according to AES, takes half the time and as well as much. As per a recently reported story by energy storage news, the financial result of AES went on to reveal that the company is contracting with US as well as South Korean suppliers for almost 80% of its 2026 as well as 2027 battery requirements.
Moreover, the company also went on to disclose that it has imported all the batteries that are needed for the projects that are coming up in 2025.
If we take into account this information, it looks like AES is very well positioned in order to bring online Bellefield 1 and also complete the construction of Bellefield 2 as per the schedule time.
Apparently, once the project is completely operational, it is going to overtake the Edwards and Sanborn project, also based in California, and become the largest solar-storage facility in the US.
The president and the CEO of AES, Andres Gluski, said that Bellefield 1, which is going to complete the first 1000 MW of Bellefield, happens to demonstrate how fast solar as well as storage can be rolled out in order to meet the rising energy demand of the data centers.
