Energy Vault has acquired a 150MW battery energy storage system (BESS) in Texas. Meanwhile, Jupiter Power has entered an agreement with Austin Energy to provide 100MW of electricity from a BESS facility.
Energy Vault acquires 150MW Texas BESS
Energy Vault has announced its acquisition and planned development of SOSA Energy Centre, a 150MW/300MWh BESS located in Madison County, Texas.
SOSA, initially developed by Shell subsidiary Savion, is the first project Energy Vault has acquired through its Asset Vault investment platform.
Earlier this month, Energy Vault finalised a US$300 million preferred equity investment from North American infrastructure firm OIC L.P. to initiate Asset Vault.
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Asset Vault is the company’s fully consolidated subsidiary focused on “developing, building, owning and operating energy storage assets globally.”
Acquisition of this BESS project was directly supported by the investment from OIC, as well as the monetisation of investment tax credit (ITC) related funds.
The SOSA BESS is positioned within the Electric Reliability of Texas (ERCOT) North market, and is expected to receive notice to proceed (NTP) in Q4 2025, with commercial operation expected in Q1 2027.
Energy Vault will safe harbour the BESS, with construction beginning on-site in Q4 2025. Upon completion, the company says SOSA will deliver critical grid support and renewable integration capacity.
The company says it is in advanced negotiations with a counterparty for an 8-year offtake agreement. The offtake structure is expected to be underwritten by an investment-grade counterparty, and “is expected to deliver bankable, frontloaded revenue streams, enhancing returns and de-risking project cash flows.”
SOSA will use the third generation of Energy Vault’s B-Vault AC storage solution.
Alongside the SOSA BESS, existing US projects under the Asset Vault platform include the 57MW/114MWh Cross Trails BESS and the 8.5MW/293MWh Calistoga Resiliency Centre, a hybrid energy storage system that merges green hydrogen with battery cells.
Additionally, the recently acquired 125MW/1GWh Stoney Creek BESS in New South Wales, Australia, is managed under the Asset Vault platform.
Jupiter Power enters US$288 million agreement with Austin Energy
Also in ERCOT territory, Jupiter Power has agreed to a large-scale battery storage contract with utility Austin Energy to provide up to 100MW of electricity from a utility-scale BESS facility.
Austin Energy says this agreement will support the utility’s goal of achieving 125MW of battery storage by the end of 2027.
The agreement is valued at an estimated US$14.4 million per year, with a term of up to 20 years, for a total estimated amount of US$288 million, representing Austin Energy’s largest energy storage initiative to date.
ESN reached out to Jupiter Power for more information regarding the project that would provide the 100MW for Austin Energy, but did not hear back before publication.
The company entered into a similar power purchase agreement (PPA) with Denton Municipal Electric (DME) in Denton, Texas, for the Tidwell Prairie II project, which was announced the day before the agreement with Austin Energy.
ESN Premium reported on this PPA when the agreement was discussed and unanimously approved during the City of Denton’s regular council meeting on 30 September.
Jupiter Power’s website does not list a BESS project in Travis County, where Austin is located.
The 200MW/400MWh Callisto I is located in Harris County, which encompasses most of Houston, Texas.
This would make Callisto I and Tidwell Prairie II the closest projects to Austin.
Jupiter Power also has multiple projects in Ward and Pecos County, which are approximately 100 miles further from the city.
