Broad Reach Power to Build 15 Battery Storage Projects in Texas

Broad Reach Power has announced that it will build 15 utility-scale battery storage plant sites in areas near Houston and Odessa in Texas by the end of 2020

Broad Reach Power, a rapidly growing energy storage independent power producer (IPP) based in Houston which owns a three-gigawatt portfolio of utility-scale solar and energy storage power projects in Montana, Wyoming, California, Utah, and Texas, has announced that it will build 15 utility-scale battery storage plant sites in areas near Houston and Odessa by the end of 2020.

As per the firms’ announcement – six sites are expected to be online and operating this summer, and it is anticipated that the others will be under construction this fall. Each site will contain battery systems capable of storing and distributing up to 10 megawatts of power.

“Despite the turmoil of 2020, US demand for lower cost and emission-free generation sources such as solar and wind is increasing, and this is fuelling the need for more battery storage assets,” said Broad Reach Power Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer Steve Vavrik.

“While many parts of the country grapple with economic challenges created by COVID-19, Texas is uniquely poised for continued industrial growth in the near future. Thanks to the state’s rapidly expanding and affordable clean power resources, reliable grid, deep talent base and business-friendly policies, Texas will be a prime location for data centres, manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies looking to expand their US operations. However, the abundant, cheap and emission-free in-state generation resources these companies want, or sometimes even require, will need complementary storage assets to ensure the grid’s continued reliability.”

In addition to making the grid more resilient, these storage projects also provide utilities and grid operators with more options to bring the grid back online after an emergency such as a hurricane or tropical storm. They are emission-free, do not use scarce water resources, and are both small as well as modular so they can be constructed near customers with minimal intrusion. Each site is being developed using local civil and electrical engineers, surveyors, civil contractors, electrical contractors, and project managers.

Recently, we had reported that the US energy storage sector saw a strong first quarter, with residential storage setting another record while the non-residential market had its third-strongest quarter on record.

According to Wood Mackenzie and the US Energy Storage Association’s (ESA) latest ‘US Energy Storage Monitor’ report, residential deployments hit 44.4 MW, up 10 percent from the final quarter of 2019, as markets such as California and Hawaii remained strong and customers in emerging markets looked to storage for resilience.

Non-residential deployments sat at 31.6 MW, down 25 percent on Q4 2019 but nevertheless placing in the top three quarters for the segment. Though California led in non-residential storage, Massachusetts and New York staked a strong claim on the storage map with a few large community solar-plus-storage projects. These accounted for most of the capacity installed in Massachusetts and New York in Q1 2020.