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SRG Commercial and Critical Loop are deploying bridge power so a six-building advanced manufacturing campus near Long Beach can operate before permanent utility capacity is ready.
Critical Loop will distribute two battery systems at each building to supplement about 7 MW of firm Southern California Edison capacity and 2 MW of flexible service.
The Information identified Anduril Industries as the tenant; its new 1.18-million-sq-ft Long Beach-area campus is scheduled to open in 2027.
The first buildings are expected to energize in late February 2027, with the temporary system planned to cover the shortfall until permanent utility capacity catches up.
Critical Loop is seeking approval for its batteries to operate alongside SCE service without continuous grid exports, with utility review and permission required before energization.
Facing an advanced manufacturing campus needing energy before the local utility can deliver it, developer SRG Commercial and industrial power systems firm Critical Loop announced Oct. 27 a roughly 25-MW temporary power system to bridge the gap.
The six-building campus near Long Beach, Calif., currently has about 7 MW of firm Southern California Edison (SCE) capacity and another 2 MW of flexible service. Critical Loop will add 12 MW/60 MWh of battery storage that can supplement available utility power as campus demand changes, using distributed controls to keep each building within SCE import limits rather than relying on continuous temporary generation. Another 3.5 MW of generation is reserved for extended outages.
Critical Loop declined to identify the tenant to ENR, but The Information reported the tenant is defense technology manufacturer Anduril Industries, which needs sufficient power available by March 1, 2027.
Separately, Anduril said Sept. 29 that construction is underway on a new 1.18-million-sq-ft Long Beach campus that will add research, development and manufacturing capacity and is scheduled to open in 2027. California economic development officials say the campus, spanning Long Beach and Lakewood, represents a $1-billion investment expected to support about 5,500 direct jobs.
The first buildings are expected to energize in late February 2027, Critical Loop told ENR. SCE is bringing two new feeders to the campus, while SRG has planned for the temporary system to cover the power shortfall for at least 18 months, or until permanent utility capacity catches up.
How the Bridge Power System Works
Critical Loop designed the system and will own, operate and maintain its battery assets. Each of the six buildings will have two of the company’s CLB-5100 battery systems, providing 12 MW/60 MWh of storage across the campus. SRG’s construction team is installing Critical Loop’s Cygnus controllers and AC combiners at each building’s utility service. Critical Loop declined to disclose the contract value.
Critical Loop’s containerized battery systems can be transported to industrial sites and charged from available grid power, then discharged when facility demand exceeds utility capacity. Click to enlarge.
Photo courtesy Critical Loop
During normal operations, SCE power will serve the campus while the batteries discharge when demand exceeds available utility capacity and recharge when sufficient grid capacity is available. Critical Loop’s Cygnus controller manages charging and discharging against real-time building loads while enforcing utility import limits. The emergency generators remain disconnected during normal operations and are reserved for extended grid outages.
California’s Rule 21 governs how customer-owned generation and battery storage connect to investor-owned utility systems, including SCE’s. Critical Loop’s non-export interconnection application is underway, which would allow its batteries to operate alongside SCE service and supplement the limited power available to the campus while controls prevent continuous export back to the grid. SCE must review the configuration, execute an interconnection agreement and grant permission to operate before the system can be energized.
“Power constraints can derail an entire development pipeline if you let them,” SRG Commercial Senior Vice President Scott Mulkay said. “By partnering with Critical Loop, we are pre-solving the time-to-power problem before tenants lease our developments. It allows us to move at the speed our tenants require, rather than waiting on utility timelines.”
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Grid constraints are increasingly pushing power-intensive projects toward onsite generation and battery storage as developers try to align utility capacity with construction schedules. “Time to power has come to dominate planning and engineering for data centers,” Jacobs Global Energy Solutions Director Andy Solberg told ENR this month. As AI and advanced manufacturing drive electricity demand higher, he said, the challenge is whether “generation, grid connections, permitting and critical equipment can be ready when businesses need them.”
SRG named Critical Loop its preferred Southern California microgrid provider for two years, positioning the companies to use similar bridge-power systems elsewhere in the developer’s regional industrial pipeline.
Source: www.enr.com
