The Virginia-based clean energy company Fluence Energy and Californian energy storage company Diablo Energy Storage are in a process of presenting legal claims and counterclaims regarding a large energy storage in Pittsburgh in Contra Costa County in the US state of California.
The 150MW project comprises three separate lithium-ion battery storage facilities for PG&E, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, which already operates 50MW of energy storage at the site. The capacity is enough to provide eight hours of reserve power to the grid. Experts say that the lithium-ion battery technology is seldom used for supplying power for more than four hours.
Fluence claims Diablo has failed to comply with the terms of its contract and that the deliveries have been made according to the agreement. Diablo has claimed there are several defects, deficiencies and failures. Diablo is seeking the return of $229.1 million plus damages. The total order value is estimated to $238 million.
Fluence Energy’s share price fell as much as 23% on the NASDAQ after the lawsuit was presented. The case will now be continued in court on 5 February 2024.
The two parties to the dispute represent the sustainable energy transition in the USA. Fluence Energy, founded in 2018, offers energy storage products and services, including cloud-based software for renewables, the Fluence IQ platform. The group operates in 47 markets globally. The revenue for 2023 was $2.2 billion and the company reached a profit for the first time in Q4/23.
Diablo Energy Storage is a BESS storage finished in April 2022. The project was designed by LS Power Development in 2017, a subsidiary of LS Power Group, the New York-based development, investment and power company with a national fleet of renewable energy and battery storage projects, representing more than 30GW of power.
Photo: Diablo Energy Storage Phase One. Photo credit: LS Power
