Madrid-based renewable energy operator Acciona Energía has swooped in to acquire the largest battery storage project on the Texas grid.
Construction on the 190-megawatt storage facility in Hunt County, about 55 miles northeast of Dallas, is expected to finish by March. The project, known as Cunningham, was previously owned by South Korea-based Qcells Co. Ltd. Belltown Power Texas LLC had sold it to Qcells about a year ago.
Battery storage systems are rechargeable batteries that store energy from sources, such as solar arrays or the electric grid, and release it when it’s needed by the electrical grid. This helps to balance electrical supply and demand as it discharges the energy during peak usage, helping to reduce spikes in pricing for customers.
“We have been working on battery storage for more than ten years and we see the technology is now ready for commercial deployment and to be included in our growth strategy,” said Rafael Mateo, CEO of Acciona, in the announcement.
The deal also includes six additional projects that are at an advanced development stage. The financial details of the deal weren’t disclosed.
Acciona, whose U.S. headquarters are in Chicago and Miami, looks for projects to develop from start to finish or to acquire from other developers. The company has more than 200 employees in the U.S., where it already operates more than 1 gigawatt of wind and concentrating solar power. Its portfolio is 100% renewable energy.
This isn’t Acciona’s first Texas project. It has three wind farms in south Texas and two solar plants under construction outside of Houston.
The company’s largest U.S. wind farm, La Chalupa Wind Farm, is in Cameron County at the southern tip of the state. Its production capacity is 650 gigawatt hours per year, or the equivalent of the energy consumption of 41,000 Texas homes. The project was a $230 million investment and created up to 282 jobs at the peak of construction, with 19 full-time jobs during operations.
Acciona’s solar farm project that’s under construction in Fort Bend County outside of Houston cost $258 million and created up to 450 jobs at peak construction and 12 full-time jobs during operations. Its production capacity of 569 gigawatt hours per year is equal to removing nearly 87,700 vehicles from the road.
