Texas to get its largest battery, coupled with its largest solar power plan
Vistra Energy plans to add a 10 MW / 42 MWh lithium-ion battery to the 180 MW-AC Upton County Solar 2 solar power plant. The energy storage project is scheduled to come online in Q4 2018.
Most of the renewable energy news we hear coming from Texas is that it has built the nation’s largest fleet of wind power – which is in large part by socializing the cost of power lines to bring that power to the state’s population centers.
And as a result of this, the economic viability of the state’s coal fleet is being stressed and shut down. Sometime soon – perhaps in 2018 – Texas may see more electricity generated from wind than coal.
Big hat and a respectfully-sized field of cattle.
But that is not all. The state is finally getting some Texas-sized energy storage – and it is being added to Texas’ largest solar power plant. In a powerpoint delivered by Vistra Energy on investor day, they referenced the upcoming energy storage project.
The AC-coupled facility will be a 10 MW / 42 MWh lithium ion battery. In its documentation, Vistra Energy notes that the solar power plant has a peak output of ‘nearly 200 MW,’ even though its interconnection application is only 180 MW.
Thus, the energy storage plant will be used to capture the power that is being clipped. The powerpoint also states that the batteries can be charged during lower priced periods overnight, and discharged in the morning, to arbitrage the difference in prices.
