Market intelligence firm Ascend Analytics has crossed the 5 GW threshold, the firm announced Sept. 1, now managing more than 5.2 GW of battery storage capacity through its SmartBidder platform.

The SmartBidder system now has a bid optimization portfolio of more than 30 customers that spans across PJM, CAISO, and ERCOT markets. With so much of the country’s utility-scale battery assets under the platform, Ascend officials say their company is fully established as the largest independent provider of bid optimization services in the U.S.

“Five gigawatts is a significant milestone and tells part of the story. What is equally impressive is the breadth of assets behind that number,” says Michael Huisenga, Ascend’s managing director of bid optimization. “SmartBidder optimizes everything from 3-megawatt batteries to 300-megawatt batteries, one-hour to eight-hour durations, standalone, hybrid and resources co-located with wind and solar facilities, operating in three ISOs under unique market rules.”

The analytics firm’s operating portfolio has approximately 4 GW of assets under management across Texas’s ERCOT market, representatives say. CAISO lays claim to 1 GW of the company’s bid optimization assets, with PJM taking up the other 200 MW.

Tapping into a key market

Ascend Analytics hit the 5 GW mark earlier this year during Q2, onboarding assets from California Community Power and San Diego Community Power. Ascend officials say the two organizations have contracted storage capacity to serve loads that they manage either directly, or on behalf of their member companies.

“Load-serving entities, in particular, are taking on market exposure with a new asset class they may not have managed before,” Huisenga adds. “Leveraging the experience of the SmartBidder solution and our team of experts to deploy customized, risk-constrained, automated bidding strategies gives them the tools to achieve their portfolio objectives.”

The company’s growing portfolio increasingly includes long-duration storage assets, the company says. SmartBidder now manages one of the first eight-hour batteries to reach commercial operation within the CAISO market, as well as one of the first four-hour batteries on the ERCOT grid.

While most of the operating assets in PJM are short duration batteries, Ascend is one of a select few firms running bid optimization for the longer-duration resources in the market.

“Storage is becoming the balancing resource for the U.S. power system, and the economics of every one of these assets come down to how well it is bid into the market,” says Ascend Analytics CEO Matt Tormollen. “Ascend’s forecasts sit at the foundation of more than $50 billion in project financing assessments. Managing more than 5 gigawatts of operating storage means we also see how those assets perform hour by hour, in real markets, under real conditions.

“That lifecycle, from long-term valuation through to real-time dispatch, is why utilities and power producers increasingly choose Ascend to help navigate rapidly shifting power markets.”

Tags: Ascend Analytics, batteries, BESS, ESS, software, storage, utility-scale