UC San Diego's campus microgrid is the site of an 8 MW / 40 MWh battery loan - the dollars are blank, a February filing prints 8 MW / 32 MWh, and the release names no solar
On 29 October 2026 Crux and EnerSmart said they had financed a senior secured construction-to-term loan for an 8 MW / 40 MWh battery on the UC San Diego campus, on a 10-year resource adequacy contract, tied to the campus microgrid. The release does not print the loan amount, the lender, a savings figure, or solar. A California Energy Commission resolution docketed on 17 February 2026 amends a $7,146,296 grant to an 8.0 MW / 32.0 MWh battery at the same campus. The two pages do not say they are the same box.
A campus is a workplace with its own wires behind the utility meter. The battery in this announcement sits on those wires. It does not make electricity. It holds power and gives it back. The loan page prints the size of the tank. It does not print the dollars.
On 29 October 2026 Crux and EnerSmart announced a senior secured construction-to-term loan for an 8 megawatt / 40 megawatt-hour battery on the University of California, San Diego campus. The release says the project interconnects with the university's microgrid and is supported by a 10-year resource adequacy contract. Resource adequacy is a California grid product: a payment for the battery being available to the wider system. It is a different line from the campus retail bill. The release says the project increases campus resilience and helps cut peak-demand costs. It does not print a peak-demand saving.
The blanks on the loan page. No loan amount. No lender name. No interest rate. No term of years for the loan, beyond the words "construction-to-term". No switch-on date. No solar. Crux says it lined up debt and preferred-equity proposals within three weeks, and closed six weeks after the term sheet was signed. It says the facility was upsized to bridge an equity grant and to absorb equipment cost increases driven by tariffs. It does not print the grant dollars, the tariff dollars, or the size of the upsize.
Hours on the loan page. 40 megawatt-hours divided by 8 megawatts is 5 hours at full power. The release does not print the hours. A megawatt is the width of the tap. A megawatt-hour is the size of the tank.
Who owns the box. The release calls the project EnerSmart's. The company description says EnerSmart develops, owns and operates batteries. The release does not print a sentence that names the owner of this campus battery. Skyler Tennis, EnerSmart's chief operating officer, names the California Energy Commission among the partners and refers to grant support. The quote does not print a grant amount.
A February filing, same campus, different energy number. On 17 February 2026 the California Energy Commission docketed a notice of exemption and a resolution adopted on 11 February 2026, resolution 26-0211-06, agreement DBA-24-004. The resolution says the commission had approved, on 11 September 2024, a $7,146,296 grant for a four-hour lithium-ion battery of 9.8 MW / 39.2 MWh at the East Campus Utility Plant. It amends that approval to a nameplate of 8.0 MW / 32.0 MWh at the Central Utilities Plant, 9239 Herbert York Lane, La Jolla. The new box replaces a 2.5 MW / 5.0 MWh battery installed in 2015 and in operation since 2016. 32 megawatt-hours divided by 8 megawatts is 4 hours. The resolution calls the amended battery four-hour. It says the microgrid includes a 30 MW cogeneration plant and 3 MW of existing solar, and that San Diego Gas & Electric owns the 69 kV substation and provides transmission and distribution service only. It says the agreement is to keep the added battery capacity available during extreme events for five years from the commercial online date. The October loan release does not mention 32 MWh, the $7,146,296, the street address, the cogeneration plant, or the five-year availability term. The February resolution does not mention EnerSmart, Crux, or a 10-year resource adequacy contract. The two pages do not say they fund the same box.
The university's own news page, published 17 September 2024, prints a third size. It says a $7.15 million California Energy Commission grant will pay for a 10 MW / 40 MWh battery, replacing a 5 MWh battery in place since 2014, able to power about 7,500 homes for four hours, with operations aimed at the latter half of 2025. That page also names a separate 10 MWh thermal store from RedoxBlox, planned for 2026. The 2025 window on that page is a schedule from 2024. The February 2026 resolution is still an amendment. The October 2026 release is a loan announcement. Neither later page is a switch-on notice.
A different United States workplace battery, already on this desk. The Brockton note is a funder installing 125 kW or 250 kW batteries and taking a share of the bill saving. The share is not printed there either. This San Diego release prints a campus microgrid and a resource adequacy contract. It does not print a share of the campus bill. No solar is named on the loan page. The February resolution does name 3 MW of solar already on the microgrid. That solar is the existing plant. It is not a new array in the loan.
Analogy: three labels on one campus. 10 MW / 40 MWh on the 2024 university page. 8 MW / 32 MWh on the February resolution. 8 MW / 40 MWh on the October loan. The loan dollars are on none of them.
Good: A dated loan release, a named campus, a named power and energy, a named 10-year contract type, and a public grant resolution with a dollar figure and a different energy figure.
Bad: Loan amount blank. Lender blank. Savings blank. Solar absent from the loan release. The owner of this box is not named in one sentence. The grant page and the loan page disagree on megawatt-hours. No switch-on date in the October release. The 2024 page's 2025 window is not a completion notice.
Ugly: Adding the $7,146,296 onto the loan as if it were the loan. Treating 40 MWh and 32 MWh as the same tank. Treating a resource adequacy payment as the campus bill cut. Reading 8 MW as 8 MWh. Treating the battery as already running because a 2024 page named 2025. Treating the 3 MW of existing solar as a new array bought with this loan.
Soft next step: set 8 MW / 40 MWh beside 8 MW / 32 MWh, and leave the loan dollars blank until one page prints them and names the box.
Source: Crux and EnerSmart, via EIN Presswire, 29 Oct 2026, 13:00 GMT - construction-to-term loan for the UC San Diego battery. Primary for the 29 October announcement, the 8 MW / 40 MWh size, the UC San Diego campus, the senior secured construction-to-term loan, the 10-year resource adequacy contract, the interconnection with the campus microgrid, the claim of lower peak-demand costs with no dollar figure, the absence of a loan amount, a lender, an interest rate, a loan term in years, a switch-on date and solar, proposals within three weeks and close six weeks after the term sheet, the upsize for an equity grant and tariff-driven equipment costs with no dollars on either, and the quote from Skyler Tennis naming the California Energy Commission and grant support with no grant amount. The company description says EnerSmart develops, owns and operates batteries. The release does not print a separate sentence naming the owner of this battery. 40 MWh divided by 8 MW is our description of the 5 hours. The release does not print that division. California Energy Commission, docketed 17 Feb 2026, resolution adopted 11 Feb 2026 - DEBA award to UC San Diego, TN 268663, resolution 26-0211-06. Primary for agreement DBA-24-004, the 11 September 2024 approval of a $7,146,296 grant for a four-hour 9.8 MW / 39.2 MWh battery at the East Campus Utility Plant, the amendment to 8.0 MW / 32.0 MWh at the Central Utilities Plant, 9239 Herbert York Lane, La Jolla, replacement of the 2.5 MW / 5.0 MWh battery installed in 2015 and operating since 2016, the 30 MW cogeneration plant, the 3 MW of existing solar, SDG&E ownership of the 69 kV substation, and five years of availability for the added capacity from the commercial online date. 32 MWh divided by 8 MW is our description of the four hours the resolution also states. The resolution does not mention EnerSmart, Crux, or a 10-year resource adequacy contract. UC San Diego, 17 Sep 2024 - campus battery news page. Primary for the $7.15 million figure, the 10 MW / 40 MWh size, replacement of a 5 MWh battery in place since 2014, about 7,500 homes for four hours, operations aimed at the latter half of 2025, and a separate 10 MWh RedoxBlox thermal store planned for 2026. That page is not a 2026 switch-on notice.