Luminant, a subsidiary of Vistra Energy, has announced the completion of its Upton 2 battery storage project, located on the site of Luminant’s 180 MW Upton 2 solar facility in Upton County, Texas.
The 10 MW/42 MWh lithium-ion energy storage system captures excess solar energy produced at Upton 2 during the day and can release the power in late afternoon and early evening, when energy demand in ERCOT is highest. The battery system can also take advantage of low-priced grid power – during times of high wind output, for example – to charge the batteries to be available for higher-demand periods, explains Luminant.
The storage project began operating on Dec. 31. The system, according to Luminant, is the largest energy storage project in Texas and the seventh largest in the U.S.
Vistra announced the purchase of Upton 2 in May 2017 while the project was under development. In addition, Houston Pizza Venture, one of the largest Papa John’s franchisees in the country, announced a nine-year agreement to purchase renewable energy from the west Texas facility.
Vistra is also currently developing what it calls the world’s largest battery energy storage project, a 300 MW/1,200 MWh storage system at its Moss Landing Power Plant in California, scheduled for commercial operations in the fourth quarter of 2020.
