Utility-scale energy storage developer esVolta is close to bringing online three battery storage projects in Texas totaling 490 MW/980 MWh.
The lithium-ion battery storage projects include the 150 MW/300 MWh Desert Willow project in Midlothian and the 100 MW/200 MWh Burksol project in Dickens County. The projects are slated to begin operating this quarter, according to esVolta president and CEO Randolph Mann.
The 240 MW/480 MWh Anole project in Seagoville is set to come online a few months later, Mann said Monday in an email.
The projects are backed by $243 million in funding from a preferred equity investment structured by Captona and the sale of investment tax credits, according to esVolta. “This deal unlocks efficient capital to continue to deliver much-needed fast-responding clean energy resources to the [Electric Reliability Council of Texas] power grid,” the Newport Beach, California-based company said Monday.
The projects are part of a surge in energy storage development in the ERCOT market. ERCOT expects it will have 9,889 MW of storage on its system in March, according to the grid operator’s most recent Monthly Outlook for Resource Adequacy report. In March 2024, ERCOT expected to have about 4,700 MW of storage, according to its resource adequacy report from one year ago.
ERCOT provides a favorable market for storage, according to Mann. “Texas has rapidly growing electricity demand, a highly liquid wholesale market, and an increasing level of intermittent solar and wind, which creates attractive conditions for storage,” he said.
EsVolta’s three projects have a hedge in place with a confidential commodity market participant. They will also participate in the ERCOT wholesale market, according to Mann.
EsVolta has about 25 GW of storage projects under development across the United States, the company says, including the 250-MW Marmot Hills and the 125-MW Holly Oaks projects in California.
Infrastructure investment company Generate Capital bought esVolta in July 2022. At the time, Mann said the acquisition would help the company meet its goal to “expand the battery storage market amid increasing demand from offtakers and utilities throughout the United States.”
