RES Americas has started construction of a 10MW battery storage plant combined with a 5MW solar facility for CPS Energy in Texas.
The $16.3m project was approved earlier this year by CPS Energy’s board of trustees and will be San Antonio’s first combined solar and storage scheme.
The project will capture solar energy during peak production, generally between midday and 2pm, which will be stored in onsite batteries and dispatched when energy demand is at its peak in San Antonio, between 3pm and 7pm.
It is to come online in the summer of 2019.
CPS Energy said the project is the culmination of three years of work with Southwest Research Institute, which will be providing 20 hectares of land for the facility.
CPS Energy president and chief executive Paula Gold-Williams said: “Working with Southwest Research Institute will expand our knowledge of solar energy and battery storage and further expand our energy expertise.
“This project aligns with our flexible path strategy and allows us to reduce our carbon footprint while at the same time incorporating battery storage into our system … as we meet the community’s energy demand today and tomorrow.”
CPS Energy evaluated 22 engineering, procurement and construction contractors before selecting RES.
RES executive vice president Tom Duckett said: “This will mark RES’ first energy storage project in Texas and will utilise RES’ industry leading energy storage control platform, RESolve.”
CPS Energy received a $3m grant from the Texas Commission on Environment Quality in 2016 to part-fund the project.