Fluence to EPC 800-MWh energy storage project in California

A large battery storage project is moving forward in Tulare County, California. Fluence Energy will build a 200 MW/800-megawatt-hour battery system (called Smartstack) for developer Avantus, paired with a solar facility. The battery is a four-hour duration system, meaning it can discharge its full power output for four hours before needing to recharge. Fluence says the equipment uses U.S.-made parts, including battery cells, modules, enclosures, and thermal management systems from manufacturing partners in Utah, South Carolina, and Texas.

This isn't a project homeowners can sign up for or benefit from directly through their own utility bills or rebates. It's a utility-scale storage facility meant to store solar power and feed it back into the California grid, which can help make the grid more reliable overall, especially during high-demand periods when solar generation drops off. The project is also expected to create more than 500 union construction jobs at its peak, plus some permanent local operations positions, and generate tax revenue for Tulare County. It will be built on land already disturbed by prior use, rather than undeveloped land.

Construction is set to begin in 2027, with the project aiming to start commercial operation in late 2028. For homeowners, the main relevance is indirect: more large-scale storage on the California grid can support broader grid stability as more solar and batteries come online, though it doesn't change what's available for home energy upgrades or rebates right now.