Gemini solar and storage project

Gemini solar + storage project

Primergy Solar needed to progress an economical and reliable renewable energy project to power hundreds of thousands of homes in Nevada. With the help of DNV, they achieved this goal in the form of the 690 MWac co-located solar and storage Gemini project.

When you think about the American southwest, what comes to mind? Perhaps you picture the iconic, cactus-dotted desert or cowboys moving herds of cattle across dusty ground.
Energy infrastructure developers and investors, however, most likely think about the sun and the vast potential for building solar power generation. A unique region, the American southwest is truly an ideal place for utility-scale solar + storage deployments.

Harnessing the power of the sun-soaked Mojave

In 2022, Primergy, a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, announced that it was ready to move forward with one of the world’s largest co-located solar and storage projects.

Primergy carefully selected a location for Gemini, just 30 minutes outside of Las Vegas. Their design featured a minimal land impact approach grading less than 5% of the site, while installing more than 1.8 million solar modules on less than 5,000 acres. It includes a 690 MWac solar photovoltaic system and a co-located 380 MW 4-hour battery storage system providing over 1,400 MWh of energy storage.

The project’s industry leading approach to minimize land impact, combination of solar and battery storage, and many other technical and economic variables presented a unique set of challenges. On top of this, the public eye was squarely set on the project’s progress. Media coverage positioned it as an important bellwether for America’s confidence in large-scale renewable energy projects.

To ensure success, Primergy needed a trusted partner capable of providing sound engineering judgement.

Enabling success through the best engineering judgement

DNV was a natural choice to support Primergy to deliver one of the largest and most complex solar projects in North America. In 2023 alone, we provided advisory support for more than 800 GW of battery energy storage, solar, power grid, and wind projects in the U.S. and Canada. Globally, we have provided due diligence for more than 7,000 solar projects and, over the past 18 months, provided advisory services to more than 400 battery storage projects in North America.

DNV was initially contracted to support Primergy with the feasibility study and planning, which included technology and economic modeling to identify the optimal PV and BESS sizing for the project; the initial engagement happened years before the 2022 announcement. Building on the work, Primergy once again brought in DNV to review and optimize a dozen parameters to de-risk the engineering and maximize returns for this historic project, while still embracing environmental and governmental constraints.

A team of DNV experts mobilized, representing expertise covering Owner’s Engineering and Independent Engineering with support from electrical and civil engineering, solar energy assessment, environmental permitting, site visitors, storage modeling, and technology evaluation.

Feasibility and planning

Design review

Pre-construction financing

Construction, monitoring, and reporting

Provided a comprehensive technical report including a review of PV modules, battery energy storage system (BESS), and inverters, an independent energy production estimate and degradation assessment, operations and maintenance assessment, and support for contract negotiations with offtakers.

Dove deep into the optimization process across multiple technical and commercial variables using our in-house solar plus storage revenue model.

Verified that the infrastructure is designed and constructed to meet the project needs, minimize disruption to the natural landscape, and reduce the overall carbon footprint of the project.

Provided a comprehensive report to support and enable project financing. This included an assessment of the technology equipment and design, the project’s financial model, operational GHG emissions assessment, major commercial agreements, and the project’s safety plan.

Supported the project through its major construction milestones to full commercial operations.

Assessed environmental and climate impact of the project and reviewed environmental monitoring process and protections.

“Gemini is truly groundbreaking because it demonstrates the value that large-scale dispatchable solar energy generators can deliver by coupling with battery energy storage systems,” said Marion Hill, Senior Vice President, Renewables and Power Grids, North America.

A plant with 1.8 million solar modules

“Gemini is a groundbreaking project in many ways. It creates a blueprint for future projects to incorporate environmental, landscape, and carbon footprint factors into their design, and a roadmap to decarbonize large swaths of cities, even energy-intensive ones like Las Vegas,” said Richard S. Barnes, Region President, Energy Systems North America.

The Gemini Solar project is fully operational and is generating enough clean energy to power more than 260,000 homes in and around Las Vegas. The clean electricity produced from the site is displacing 1.5 million metric tons of CO2 annually, as well as reducing local pollution and emissions.