E.ON North America announced its Texas Waves energy storage projects will be co-located at the existing E.ON Pyron and Inadale wind farms in West Texas. Texas Waves consists of two 9.9 megawatt (MW) short duration energy storage projects using lithium-ion battery technology.
The Texas Waves projects will be the second and third grid connected lithium-ion battery systems installed by E.ON in North America and are expected to be online by the end of 2017.
"Our Texas Waves projects allow us to break new ground and establish ourselves in the storage business in the Texas market, complementing our more than 2.7 gigawatts of operating wind capacity in the state," said Steve Trenholm, President of E.ON Solar & Energy Storage.
The projects are designed to provide ancillary services to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market and will be capable of responding to shifts in power demand more quickly, increasing system reliability and efficiency.
"The battery energy storage systems will be an integral part of the wind farm facilities near Roscoe, Texas, and will be charged from the wind farm," said Mark Frigo, VP of Energy Storage North America at E.ON. "These projects will benefit from the lessons learned and experience accumulated on our Iron Horse project, which is currently under construction."
Iron Horse, E.ON's first grid connected lithium battery system project, is a 10 MW energy storage facility with an adjacent 2 MW solar array southeast of Tucson, Ariz., and is expected to be in operation in the first half of 2017.
E.ON will be partnering with Greensmith Energy, the leading provider of energy storage software and services, for the Texas Waves projects.
"As the leader in energy storage software and solutions - Greensmith is proud to partner with E.ON, a true visionary in power, to deploy two additional grid-scale systems towards the growth of the Texas storage market," said John Jung, President and CEO of Greensmith Energy. "We couldn't be more thrilled to support E.ON with our grid-scale experience and technology to enable a more intelligent and resilient grid in Texas and abroad."
E.ON has developed, built, and operates more than 3,000 MW of solar and wind renewable energy generation across the U.S., with more on the way. E.ON also offers O&M and asset management services to third party owner/operators looking for "Service with an Owner's Eye."
About E.ON
E.ON is an international investor owned energy supplier, focusing entirely on energy networks, customer solutions and renewables. In the 2015 financial year, more than 40,000 employees from 90 nations generated sales of around $51 billion. Around 33 million customers purchase gas and electricity from E.ON. Within the global renewables segment E.ON is a leading company. The company has already invested more than $12 billion and operates nearly 5.4 gigawatts of renewable capacity.
About Greensmith Energy
As one of the largest providers of energy storage software and integration services, Greensmith's mission is to make energy storage a fundamental part of a cleaner, more intelligent and distributed energy infrastructure. Now in its fifth generation, Greensmith's GEMS software platform optimizes the performance of energy storage by lowering costs and maximizing system return on investment throughout life. In 2014, Greensmith delivered over one-third of all energy storage capacity installed in the United States and in 2015, was selected as the fastest growing energy storage company by Inc 5000. GEMS is currently used by more than 20 major customers globally. Learn more at www.greensmithenergy.com.
