The Zier Solar + Storage project is paired with a 40MW/80MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) and has already been used by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) transmission network, which covers most of Texas, to ease up grid supply strain during increased demand.
Financing for the project was supplied by German commercial bank Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, among others, in 2022, when Cypress Creek secured US$216 million in financing for the project.
The IPP has been developing renewable projects in Texas since 2014 and has 1GW of operational capacity. The company, was acquired by private equity firm EQT Partners in 2021, has a pipeline of 6GW between 24 projects in construction or development, including a 100MWh standalone BESS project near Houston that is expected to reach commercial operation next month.
Judd Messer, Texas vice president of the Advanced Power Alliance, said: “Solar energy is ensuring sufficient capacity during day-time peak, setting records nearly every month, and quick-responding energy storage delivers a substantial reliability benefit when demand soars or when dispatchable energy unexpectedly falls offline."
According to a recent report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Texas was the US state with the most solar PV capacity in its interconnection queue as of the end of 2023.
RWE is significantly increasing its standalone and co-located battery storage project pipeline as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides long-term, stable support to the energy storage market. Currently, RWE Clean Energy has approximately 2.5 GWh of U.S. battery storage projects in an execution stage from coast to coast with more and larger projects coming soon.
"This new battery storage system helps us make progress against our Growing Green Strategy to achieve net-zero by 2040 goal, while providing a rapid and flexible response asset to the Texas power grid," said Mark Noyes, CEO of RWE Clean Energy, a subsidiary of RWE AG. “As this summer’s heat drives all-time energy demand records in Texas, renewable energy, including battery energy storage, is contributing to relieving stress on the grid.”
Storage projects, like Texas Waves II, can provide capacity and flexibility to the electric grid available to quickly discharge energy when demand outstrips supply. This is particularly important for the Texas grid this summer as data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the grid operator, showed power usage hit an hourly record of more than 80.8 GW on June 27.
The project provides ancillary services to the ERCOT grid as well as participates in the energy market. In addition, Texas Waves II has the potential to reduce electricity costs for consumers by storing energy when it is readily available from renewable resources and discharging that energy when it would otherwise have to be provided from more costly sources of power generation.
Texas Waves II builds on RWE’s pioneering position in an attractive storage market as the next phase of a series of energy storage projects. The company is able to match storage facilities where they add the most value to the existing RWE wind fleet. Texas Waves I, one of the first utility-scale battery energy storage projects (2x9.9-MW) started back in 2017, is co-located with RWE’s Pyron and Inadale Wind Farms in the same area.
A 12-year virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) is in place for a 22MW portion of the site with US automotive manufacturer Polaris. Under the deal, Polaris will purchase power and associated renewable energy certificates (REC) from Enel North America, sufficient to cover around 40% of its US electricity use.
"Polaris shares Enel''s mission to bring more clean energy onto the grid," said Stephen Pike, head of Enel North America''s renewable energy production business, Enel Green Power North America. “Across all sectors, leaders like Polaris are stepping up to secure the economic and environmental benefits of renewable energy."
Other than LyondellBassell, a chemical engineering company, the largest global renewable energy purchasers were tech giants; Amazon, Meta and Google signed for 5.3GW, 3GW and 990MW of solar and wind respectively.
Enel North America already has invested considerably into solar and energy storage in Texas. In September last year it signed a PPA with Boston Properties (BXP) for a 202MW/104MW solar-plus-storage site in the state. BXP will offtake 21MW of the power output form the project, which is currently under construction and expected online in "late 2024".
Back in March 2023, the company signed another corporate PPA deal with confectioner Nestlé for the entire output of a 208MW solar-plus-storage site in Jackson County, Texas.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) transmission network, which operates most of the grid in Texas, reached a record peak of solar power generation last Tuesday, generating 16.7GW from solar power resources alone.
The facilities, located in South Bexar County, Texas, represent a continuation of the existing partnership between Eolian and CPS Energy, which includes the 50MW Padua 1 project currently under construction.
This expansion is a key component of the utility’s Vision 2027 generation plan, which has been actively diversifying and re-inforcing the utility’s energy mix.
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