X-ELIO, a developer of renewable energy projects, is building its first utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) in the U.S.: a 60 MW project that will be co-located with the 72 MW Liberty 1 Solar project in Houston.
Liberty 1 Solar is expected to be operational in early 2024 and will generate 137 GWh of energy per year. The energy produced by this plant will be sold to BASF through a power purchase agreement.
Surplus energy generated by Liberty 1 during times of low demand will be stored in batteries so that it can be fed into the grid at times of greater need. As an ancillary service, the system will also support grid voltage and frequency.
Additionally, the battery system will be designed in a way that allows for future expansion, increasing capacity to a two-hour system (120 MWh), ensuring the highest value proposition under ever-changing market conditions.
The project will move forward with the collaboration of two long-time players in the energy storage sector, Saft and Power Electronics.
“Launching this new battery project is a major milestone for X-ELIO and another step in our strategy to expand our business model to synergistic adjacencies to our core solar business,” says Mirko Molinari, chief commercial officer of X-ELIO. “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.”
