Renewables developer X-Elio has revealed plans for a 60MW energy storage project that will be co-located with its 72MW Liberty 1 Solar project in Texas.
Liberty 1 Solar, near Houston, is expected to be operational in early 2024.
The energy produced by this plant will be sold to BASF through a power purchase agreement closed last September.
The battery will store surplus energy generated by Liberty 1 during times of low demand and fed into the ERCOT grid at times of higher demand.
As an ancillary service, the battery system will also support grid voltage and frequency.
Additionally, the battery system is designed in a way that allows for future expansion, increasing capacity from a 1.2hr system to a 2hr system (60MW-120MWh), ensuring the highest value proposition under changing market conditions.
X-Elio’s 60MW battery project will move forward with the collaboration of two Saft and Power Electronics.
Chief commercial officer of X-Elio, Mirko Molinari, said: “Launching this new battery project is a major milestone for X-Elio and another step in our strategy to expand our business model to synergistic adjacencies to our core solar business.
“This is the first big step of many that X-ELIO aims to take in this direction, and we are happy to partner with savvy technical partners like Saft who share our ambitions to become a major player in utility-scale energy storage.”