Many MindedUtah solar farm gains a four-hour battery to serve PacifiCorp and Meta
Lydian Energy says its Faraday battery energy storage system in Utah County, Utah, reached commercial operation, with operations beginning on 18 September. It is a standalone four-hour lithium-iron-phosphate battery that provides 600 MWh of contracted storage capacity to PacifiCorp under a long-term energy storage agreement. Lydian says the project supports Meta's Eagle Mountain data centre operations and the reliability of the Utah grid.
The battery sits on about eight acres beside the 525 MW Faraday solar facility and shares that facility's substation and interconnection. Reusing existing grid connections is one way to keep storage projects compact. Lydian says it moved from mobilisation to commercial operation in about 10 months. Chief Operating Officer Kim Smith said a wildfire threatened the area in June and the team prioritised safety while keeping to schedule.
The abundance case is about timing. Solar produces when the sun is up, while demand and data-centre loads continue after dark. Four hours of storage next to a large solar plant lets more of that daytime output be used when it is needed, which makes clean power more dependable. A long-term contract with a utility also gives the asset a steady revenue basis. Building this alongside the solar farm in under a year suggests such pairings can be delivered quickly.
Watch for Faraday BESS 2, which Lydian is developing at the same site. It would add up to 375 MW/1,500 MWh and targets an in-service date in the fourth quarter of 2028. Those figures are targets, and the project is still in development. The performance and timeline claims here come from Lydian's own announcement and executive statement, not independent verification.
Source: Google News