Finnish technology group Wärtsilä said it reached commercial operation date (COD) for two major interconnected energy storage systems in south Texas, US. They total 200 MW and are owned by Eolian L.P, owner/operator of energy storage projects.
The Madero and Ignacio energy storage plants will be operated using Eolian software, which enables full participation in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market. They use lithium batteries.
The facilities’ multi-hour continuous dispatch capability provides the longest duration of any energy storage assets operating in ERCOT, according to the company. Wärtsilä Energy’s Communications Manager Katri Pehkonen told BEST: “The exact MWh capacity per project site is confidential. But with each of the two phases being greater than 250 MWh and greater than two hours in duration, the project is well above 500 MWh in total.” Facility cost is over $200 million, she said.
As a combined site, the project is the world’s largest (in MWh) fully-merchant (i.e. no offtake contract) and market-facing energy storage facility built to-date. Wärtsilä adds it is also the first use of the Investment Tax Credit for standalone utility-scale energy storage systems, introduced through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.
Construction of the projects began in January 2021. The facility reacts instantaneously to sustain electricity output when power generation fails or cannot respond quickly enough to rapidly-changing conditions.
Risto Paldanius, Vice President Americas at Wärtsilä Energy, said: “Texas needs more flexible capacity solutions like energy storage for grid support and energy resource optimisation. This will help the state as it faces the natural replacement cycle of older inflexible generators and adapts to more frequent extreme weather events.”
Wärtsilä’s GEMS Digital Energy Platform monitors and controls the flow of energy, enabling these projects to provide grid support during periods of grid instability. Its Storage+ Solution delivers grid stability services such as fast frequency response and frequency regulation.
The Madero and Ignacio sites are the first systems to use GEMS to qualify for fast frequency response in the ERCOT market.
The project includes Wärtsilä’s GridSolv Quantum, a modular and compact energy storage system. It is certified UL 9540 compliant.
