X-ELIO Sets up its First Utility Scale 60 MWh BESS Project in Texas, US

The first utility-scale energy storage installations in Idaho are underway as construction has begun on them.

X-ELIO, that delves into the development, construction, financing and operation of renewable and sustainable energy projects, has added a BESS (battery energy storage system) project of 60 MW capacity, which has been set up in the Liberty County of Texas in the USA. This is a major project for X-ELIO, given that this is the firm’s first utility-scale BESS in the US.

The said project will be located alongside Liberty 1 Solar- the 72 MW  solar plant that is being constructed by X-ELIO close to Houston. It will be set into operation by 2024, producing 137 GWh of clean energy every year. In its wake, it will create 125 jobs in construction. The energy from the plant will be sold off to BASF, which develops materials and technologies for lithium-ion batteries. Both the firms had entered into a PPA in September 2022.

The project will comes with a cost-effective source for the storage of energy. When the demand is not too high, energy that is produced by the project will be added to the grid when the need arises via storage batteries. At the same time, the BESS also makes room for expanding in future, making it possible to augment capacity from a 1.2hr system to a 2hr system (60 MW-120 MWh).

“This is the first big step of many that X-ELIO aims to take in this direction, and we are happy to partner with savvy technical partners like Saft who share our ambitions to become a major player in utility-scale energy storage,” remarked Mirko Molinari, Chief Commercial Officer of X-ELIO.

It was only a year ago that X-ELIO stepped foot into energy storage. This BESS project being set up by the firm, is its largest BESS and first that is at GW scale, which is in its current global pipeline. The project will also see partnership between key leaders in the energy storage sector, SAFT and Power Electronics.

X-ELIO has made its presence felt worldwide with projects in Europe, US, Latin America, Japan and Australia. It has a portfolio of building over 2.6 GW.

Last year, X-ELIO received 15 MW from the Ministry of Economy and Trade Industry (METI) in Japan’s first Feed-in-Premium (FIP) auction, which awarded 153.7 MW of new solar PV capacity.