The Lone Star State is adding another 450 megawatts (MW) of storage capacity, courtesy of Germany-based renewable energy giant RWE, which has broken ground on three battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Texas.
RWE is rapidly expanding its footprint in the United States, and now has more than 930 MW of projects under construction across California, Texas, and Arizona. The company has about 0.7 GW of operational storage capacity and approximately 1.4 GW of battery storage projects under construction worldwide, with a goal of 6 GW by 2030.
A trio of BESS projects
Construction is now underway at three RWE 150 MW/300 MWh BESS projects: Crowned Heron 1, Crowned Heron 2, and Cartwheel 1. Their combined total capacity of 450 MW and storage capacity of 900 MWh will provide critical energy storage capacity to support the stability and resilience of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.
Crowned Heron 1 and Crowned Heron 2 are located in Fort Bend County, Texas. Construction of Crowned Heron 1 is expected to be completed in the summer of 2025, with Crowned Heron 2 commissioning planned for the fall.
Cartwheel 1 is in Sulphur Springs, Texas, where RWE also operates Bright Arrow, a 300 MW solar and 100 MW/200 MWh BESS project announced earlier this year. Construction is expected to be completed in the summer of 2025.
“These battery storage projects mark a significant step in our ongoing commitment to enhancing the energy infrastructure in Texas, while growing our energy storage portfolio,” noted Hanson Wood the head of development of utility-scale renewables for RWE Clean Energy.
A growing need in ERCOT territory
Added storage capacity is especially useful in Texas as the state grapples with rapid growth in electricity consumption while simultaneously trying to manage more frequent and severe weather events. Accordingly, there’s been a flood of new development over the last year or so, as battery prices have decreased.
Recent highlights include Jupiter Power beginning commercial operations of the 200MW/400 MWh Callisto I in Houston and TotalEnergies doing the same at Danish Fields and Cottonwood, a pair of utility-scale solar farms with a combined capacity of 1.2 GW that feature integrated battery storage. Spearmint Energy and Sungrow USA have also announced their commitment to deploy more than 1 GWh of BESS projects across Texas through 2025.
More than 37% of U.S. battery capacity additions in Q2 2024 went to the ERCOT market, more than anywhere else. ERCOT has a little more than 6 GW of capacity now and is expected to hit 7.2 GW of capacity in 2024 and surpass 10 GW in 2025.
