Last year meant a new record for new battery storage connected to the Texas grid, but the 2024 forecast predicts a flood of new additions.
Since April 2023, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has received applications for battery projects that would add 50,000MW of storage capacity to the power grid it operates. “Right now, we have over 1,600 projects in our queue,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said in December. He said the company had a record year in 2023 with 800 new projects.
And the trend continues. In 2024 more than 25GW of power from battery storage will be added to the grid and more than 40GW should be ready for use in both 2025 and 2026. The driver behind the development is the rapid growth of power consumption in Texas as the former oil state experiences rapid population growth and consequences of climate change.
Austin-based Jupiter Power announced its intention to build a 200MW/400MWh battery site in Houston. On.Energy announced a $40 million financing deal to build its own sites near Houston. Oil and gas giant TotalEnergies operates a solar farm with battery storage capable of generating enough power for 70,000 homes. Enel North America said it tripled battery capacity in Texas in to 523MW/780MWh of storage, planning to add 823MW/1.2GW in 2024.
Just three years ago, the amount of battery storage on the statewide grid was negligible.
Of the total 316GW for which ERCOT has applications, about 143GW is for solar, 125GW for battery storage, 33GW for wind and 15GW for natural gas.
Photo: new BESS bring Enel’s total operational utility-scale storage capacity to 520MW/780MWh, with an additional 823MW/1,234 MWh of storage capacity expected to come online in the next year. Photo credit Enel.
