logo
GridBeyond Leads Optimization of 200MW Energy Storage Site in California

GridBeyond Leads Optimization of 200MW Energy Storage Site in California

Globe and Mail7 days ago
GridBeyond, a global leader in smart energy management, and Gore Street Energy Storage Fund plc (LSE: GSF), a leading international energy storage investment fund, over the summer began operating the Big Rock Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in El Centro, California. Bringing Big Rock live involved a large team of over 20 people coordinating across multiple countries and time zones, comprising data scientists, regulatory analysts and industrial control engineers. At 200 MW / 400 MWh, it is the largest asset managed by Gore Street Capital and GridBeyond and will dispatch power to roughly 200,000 homes in Southern California during peak times.
'This is an enormous battery system and an important source of resiliency to the state of California,' said Sean McEvoy, President of North America at GridBeyond. 'As CAISO's daily Regulation Up/Down requirement is often around 500MW-1200MW in total, this resource alone can provide up to 15%-40% of the state's Regulation Services needs in certain hours.'
To ensure maximum return on investment and grid impact, GridBeyond was selected to provide trading and optimization services for the Big Rock BESS. Central to its offering is GridBeyond's proprietary AI-based Bid Optimizer, which matches market price forecasts with real-time battery performance simulations to drive optimal bid strategies in the CAISO market.
'We are pleased to partner with a high-quality counterparty like GridBeyond on this landmark project, being able to capture revenues which outperform the market and tolling has been demonstrated by Gore Street for many years,' said Alex O'Cinneide, CEO of Gore Street Capital. 'Big Rock is not only a critical part of California's energy infrastructure, but also a strong example of our ability to deliver for investors at scale and across multiple international markets.'
The Big Rock BESS is underpinned by a 12-year fixed-price Resource Adequacy (RA) contract, valued at over USD 165 million over its term. Operated under this RA contract—secured by a Goldman Sachs subsidiary in October 2024—the facility is positioned to generate up to c.40% of its total project revenue through RA payments alone. The facility also benefits from stackable market participation, enabling it to tap multiple revenue streams, including energy arbitrage and ancillary services, as well as the RA contract.
The project comes shortly after GridBeyond began commercial operations of the PORT battery in Kanto Japan and in anticipation of three additional battery projects achieving COD in ERCOT (Texas) later this summer.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

2 Top Stocks That Could Dominate the Rest of 2025
2 Top Stocks That Could Dominate the Rest of 2025

Globe and Mail

time8 minutes ago

  • Globe and Mail

2 Top Stocks That Could Dominate the Rest of 2025

Key Points Nvidia's long-term growth opportunity might be bigger than anyone can imagine. Wall Street continues to underestimate Google's AI technology and competitive position in search. 10 stocks we like better than Nvidia › The markets are still reaching new highs in the middle of the year. The Nasdaq Composite is currently up 9.1% year to date at the time of writing. In the aftermath of the market sell-off earlier this year, two top tech stocks asserted their dominance in the second quarter. Since April 1, Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) shares are up 57%, while shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOGL)(NASDAQ: GOOG) are up 22%. Here's why these stocks could outperform for the rest of 2025 and remain rewarding investments for the long term. 1. Nvidia Nvidia is providing mission-critical technology to power the revolution in artificial intelligence (AI). It focuses on developing graphics processing units (GPUs), which were originally designed for graphics-intensive software like video games, and are now being used by the most powerful supercomputers. The company's market cap is now over $4 trillion, making it the most valuable company in the world. Nvidia controls around 90% of the data center GPU market. Its hardware is found in all the leading data centers and used by leading AI researchers like OpenAI, and these customers continue to pour billions into new chips. Last year, revenue doubled to $131 billion, and the current Wall Street consensus forecast has that reaching $200 billion this year. All signs point to Nvidia's revenue continuing to grow into the hundreds of billions of dollars over the next several years, as the company's addressable market continues to expand. For example, nations around the world are building their own sovereign AI infrastructure to be less dependent on foreign AI models that weren't trained on their own languages and cultures. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says this is a $1.5 trillion opportunity. Because there's no substitute for Nvidia's ultrapowerful GPUs, the company stands to generate substantial wealth for long-term investors. On top of the sovereign AI opportunity, Nvidia also should benefit from growth in robotics and autonomous vehicles. Huang sees the potential for robots to be the next multitrillion-dollar industry. If you didn't buy shares during the stock's recent dip, you shouldn't feel you missed out. It's still trading at a reasonable forward earnings multiple of 40; this is within its trading range over the last three years. Long-term, the stock still offers substantial upside as it capitalizes on the global investment pouring into AI from every industry. 2. Alphabet (Google) Alphabet has a strong competitive moat based on billions of people who use Gmail, YouTube, Search, and its other services every day. The company reported another stellar earnings report for the second quarter, beating expectations, and showing why it's a leading AI company to bet on for the long term. The large number of people who use Google services continued to fuel strong growth in advertising revenue in the second quarter. Alphabet said total revenue grew 14% year over year, with net income surging 19%, and earnings per share up 22%. Solid growth in Google Search revenue eased fears that competing AI models from xAI and OpenAI are hurting Google's core business. Search revenue hit a record $54 billion, up 12% year over year. This growth indicates healthy advertising demand, as users engage with Google's AI Overviews feature, which puts a convenient summary at the top of a search query. Another key indicator of Google's competitive position is strong growth in the cloud business. Google Cloud has been gaining share in a $348 billion cloud market, according to Synergy Research. Revenue hit $13.6 billion in Q2, up 32% year over year. Google Cloud continues to show impressive margin improvements, with operating income increasing from $1.2 billion in Q2 2024 to $2.8 billion in the recent quarter. These results indicate that Alphabet stock is undervalued. Despite prospects for double-digit earnings growth in the coming years, you can buy the stock at a forward P/E of just 20, which looks like a steal for this Magnificent Seven company. The stock seems in the process of being revalued by the market and might be trading at a higher P/E entering 2026, so it may outperform market averages. Should you invest $1,000 in Nvidia right now? Before you buy stock in Nvidia, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Nvidia wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 28, 2025

Analysts' Opinions Are Mixed on These Technology Stocks: Applied Materials (AMAT) and Xero Limited (OtherXROLF)
Analysts' Opinions Are Mixed on These Technology Stocks: Applied Materials (AMAT) and Xero Limited (OtherXROLF)

Globe and Mail

time2 hours ago

  • Globe and Mail

Analysts' Opinions Are Mixed on These Technology Stocks: Applied Materials (AMAT) and Xero Limited (OtherXROLF)

Analysts have been eager to weigh in on the Technology sector with new ratings on Applied Materials (AMAT – Research Report) and Xero Limited (XROLF – Research Report). Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Applied Materials (AMAT) Barclays analyst Thomas O'Malley maintained a Hold rating on Applied Materials today and set a price target of $170.00. The company's shares closed last Friday at $185.69. According to O'Malley is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 17.5% and a 59.1% success rate. O'Malley covers the Technology sector, focusing on stocks such as MACOM Technology Solutions Holdings, Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd, and Advanced Micro Devices. ;'> Applied Materials has an analyst consensus of Strong Buy, with a price target consensus of $206.26. Xero Limited (XROLF) In a report released today, Andrew McLeod from Morgan Stanley maintained a Buy rating on Xero Limited, with a price target of A$235.00. The company's shares closed last Friday at $119.99. According to McLeod is a 3-star analyst with an average return of 3.2% and a 55.5% success rate. McLeod covers the NA sector, focusing on stocks such as Telstra Corporation Limited, REA Group Ltd, and News Corp. ;'> Xero Limited has an analyst consensus of Strong Buy, with a price target consensus of $137.95, implying a 16.7% upside from current levels. In a report issued on July 14, Citi also maintained a Buy rating on the stock with a A$210.00 price target.

Why Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) Will Ride the Consumer Wave
Why Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) Will Ride the Consumer Wave

Globe and Mail

time3 hours ago

  • Globe and Mail

Why Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) Will Ride the Consumer Wave

Visa (V) and Mastercard (MA) are set to report higher quarterly profits this week, driven by resilient consumer spending and robust fee income in an uncertain tariff environment. The results will reinforce a broader financial outlook sketched by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC) earlier this month, underscoring the staying power of U.S. household demand. Analysts at Oppenheimer tout both networks as top ideas given their broad exposure to discretionary and non‑discretionary spending, global reach, and proven expense flexibility in downturns. The firms have diversified into value‑added services—threat intelligence, fraud mitigation and data analytics—to cushion revenue streams. Yet cross‑border travel volumes, a high‑margin segment, face headwinds from Geopolitical tensions and tariff‑driven pull‑forward effects. RBC Capital Markets (RBC) data show Bank of America's card volumes up 110bps and JPMorgan's up 40bps in Q2. Market Overview: Consumer spending remains firm despite tariff uncertainty Value‑added services bolster fee revenue amid volume swings Cross‑border travel pressure reflects trade and geopolitical risks Key Points: Visa and Mastercard poised to beat profit estimates on steady spend Spending mix will reveal extent of pull‑forward ahead of tariff hikes Stablecoin and crypto initiatives draw scrutiny as regulations loom Looking Ahead: Analysts will dissect segment growth for signs of late‑cycle fatigue Regulatory clarity on stablecoins could disrupt traditional rails Recovery in international travel will test cross‑border margins Bull Case: Visa and Mastercard are set to deliver higher quarterly profits, underscoring the durability of consumer spending—even as tariffs and macro jitters persist—thanks to broad exposure across both discretionary and non-discretionary purchases. Oppenheimer and other analysts flag both networks as 'top ideas' due to their proven ability to flex expenses in downturns, deep global reach, and highly diversified business models that include value-added services like fraud prevention and data analytics to smooth revenue in choppy markets. Recent Q2 card volume increases at Bank of America and JPMorgan suggest the payment ecosystem remains robust, benefiting from strong U.S. household demand and ongoing digital adoption trends. By diversifying into high-margin ancillary offerings (threat intelligence, analytics), Visa and Mastercard offset pressure from cyclical volume swings and can capture more wallet share from enterprise clients and fintechs. Both companies are pushing into new growth areas such as stablecoins and tokenized payments—leveraging partnerships with major issuers and positioning themselves for leadership if the Genius Act and digital asset regulations unlock further adoption. With Visa and Mastercard shares already beating the S&P 500 year-to-date, strong earnings could reinforce the narrative that these networks are 'core holdings' in any late-cycle or volatile macro environment. Bear Case: Cross-border travel, a key profit lever for both networks, faces renewed headwinds from geopolitical tensions and tariff-driven pull-forwards—putting high-margin international transaction revenue at risk if travel slows. The push into stablecoin and crypto payments, while innovative, introduces new regulatory risks and uncertainty; aggressive oversight or shifting rules could disadvantage incumbents or open the door for disruptive competition from fintechs and on-chain payment rails. As the economic cycle matures, analysts will be scrutinizing segment data for early signs of fatigue—such as slowdown in transaction volume growth, lower merchant fee capture, or reduced consumer willingness to spend in the face of higher prices. Tariff uncertainty could prompt businesses and consumers to curb future spend, with any evident 'pull-forward' in recent volumes masking underlying softness and risking disappointment in forward guidance. Growth in the S&P 500 and broader markets could start to outpace Visa and Mastercard if cyclical sectors rebound or if regulation squeezes payment fees—potentially limiting upside for shareholders if market leadership rotates. Competitive threats remain from closed-loop networks (e.g., Amex's affluent customer resilience) and nontraditional payment providers, with regulatory clarity on stablecoins and crypto potentially eroding the duopoly's stranglehold on global card rails. Investors will also focus on each network's foray into stablecoins, with products tied to USDC and other tokens poised to launch as the Genius Act and new crypto oversight reshape payment rails. Success in this area could offset volume volatility but risks regulatory backlash and competitive displacement. Visa, the larger network by market cap, reports after Tuesday's close, followed by Mastercard on Thursday. American Express (AXP) has already demonstrated affluence‑driven resilience, while Bank of America and JPMorgan volume gains hint at broad‑based stability. Year‑to‑date, Visa shares have risen about 13% and Mastercard 8%, outpacing the S&P 500's 8.6% gain.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store