EDF, Masdar Sign 15-Year SCE Contract for 128-MW BigBeau Solar-Plus-Storage in California
- Energy Storage News Solar + Storage Integration
Marin Holt
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- 6 minutes read
- Solar capacity: 128 MWac
- Battery storage: 40 MW / 160 MWh
- Offtake: 15-year PPA with Southern California Edison
- Owners: EDF Power Solutions + Masdar, 1.1 GW partnership
- Location: Kern County, California
EDF Power Solutions North America and Masdar have signed 15-year power purchase agreements with Southern California Edison for the output of the BigBeau solar-plus-storage project in Kern County, California, the partners said on June 2, 2026. The agreements cover a 128 MWac solar array paired with a 40 MW/160 MWh battery system that began delivering power to the utility on February 1, 2026.
BigBeau is one of seven U.S. renewable sites that EDF Power Solutions and Abu Dhabi-based Masdar own together through a co-ownership partnership totaling 1.1 GW. The plant has operated since December 2022; the new contracts lock in a long-term buyer for its electricity and its four-hour storage, which shifts midday solar output into California’s evening demand peak. Neither partner disclosed the contract price.
For Masdar, the deal extends a U.S. expansion the Abu Dhabi company has framed around scaling utility-scale clean power. For EDF Power Solutions, it monetizes a built, operating asset rather than a development-stage pipeline, re-contracting electricity and storage that already feed the grid.
The agreements add no new generation to California’s grid. BigBeau has produced since 2022, so the deal re-contracts an existing asset rather than financing new capacity, a pattern that depends on operating plants finding fresh offtake instead of on new megawatts coming online. With the price undisclosed, the terms cannot be checked against the state’s resource-adequacy benchmarks, leaving it unclear whether ratepayers gain on cost or only on the certainty of a 15-year contract.
Critical Perspective
The Big Beau project backs 128 MWac of solar with only 40 MW / 160 MWh of storage, a battery sized to about four hours that can absorb less than a third of the array’s peak output. Under a 15-year PPA, Southern California Edison is buying into CAISO’s steepening evening net-peak, when solar output collapses just as demand climbs. The neighboring Edwards & Sanborn project in the same Kern County region pairs 875 MW of solar with 3,287 MWh of storage, a far higher storage-to-solar ratio, which suggests Big Beau’s battery is built to shift a slice of midday output rather than firm the plant through the evening ramp. EDF and Masdar call this the first step in a 1.1 GW partnership, yet the contract locks in today’s storage sizing for fifteen years. As CAISO’s net-peak moves later and deeper each year, will 160 MWh be enough to keep Big Beau dispatchable at the hours SCE actually needs it, or will the offtaker be paying for solar it cannot use after dark?
Why It Matters
Southern California Edison works under a state mandate to reach 100% clean power by 2045 and a grid that strains during late-afternoon ramps as solar fades. A 15-year offtake for an operating 40 MW/160 MWh battery hands the utility firm, dispatchable capacity it schedules against that ramp without waiting on new construction. For developers, re-contracting a 2022-vintage asset signals a secondary market forming around operating solar-plus-storage: owners refinance and resell offtake as utilities chase four-hour duration. BigBeau covers up to 64,000 households and avoids more than 315,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, equal to about 67,000 cars.
Sources
- EDF Power Solutions North America and Masdar Sign Agreements for Solar and Energy Storage Project (BusinessWire, June 2, 2026)
- EDF and Masdar sign 15-year PPAs for BigBeau output (Power Technology, June 3, 2026)
- Masdar and EDF Power Solutions Sign 15-Year PPAs for BigBeau Solar-Plus-Storage Project in California (SolarQuarter, June 8, 2026)
- EDF and Masdar sign 15-year PPAs for BigBeau output (Energy Monitor)
