E.ON to build nearly 20 MW of battery storage at Texas wind farms

Dive Brief:

E.ON North America is installing two battery storage projects, totaling nearly 20 MW, at two of its wind farms in west Texas.
The two Texas Waves energy storage projects, 9.9 MW each, will be sited at E.ON’s Pyron and Inadale wind farms.
The lithium-ion battery arrays are slated to come online by the end of 2017.

Dive Insight:

Texas leads the nation in wind power, and it is now becoming a testing ground for energy storage ever since a Brattle Group report came out in 2014 that found up to 5 GW could be deployed on the state's grid. But deploying storage in Texas is difficult because the electricity market rules prevent using all the functions of a battery storage resource. However, that doesn't seem to deter some utilities.

E.ON is adding two 9.9-MW storage facilities to its 249-MW Pyron wind farm in Hermliegh and its 197-MW Inadale wind farm near Roscoe. Both wind farms went online in 2009.

The Texas Waves projects are designed to provide ancillary services to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market and to increase system reliability and efficiency by quickly responding to shifts in power demand.

"The battery energy storage systems will be an integral part of the wind farm facilities near Roscoe, Texas, and will be charged from the wind farm," Mark Frigo, vice president energy storage North America at E.ON, said in a statement.

E.ON in October began construction of its first North American storage facility, the 10-MW Iron Horse installation adjacent to a 2-MW solar array southeast of Tucson, Ariz. The Iron Horse batteries will provide frequency response and voltage control to Tucson Electric power under a 10-year agreement after it comes online in the first half of the year.