East Point Energy, owned by Norwegian state-owned energy company Equinor has completed construction and started operations at the 100MW/200MWh Citrus Flatts energy storage project in Harlingen, Texas, US.
Announced 3 September, the Citrus Flatts battery energy storage system (BESS) is East Point’s second operational project, following the start-up of the 10MW/20MWh Sunset Ridge facility last year.
East Point Energy was acquired by Equinor in 2022. In 2024, Equinor gave the green light to East Point to build two BESS projects in Texas.
Those two projects were Sunset Ridge in Frio County and Citrus Flatts in Cameron County, on the border with Mexico.
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At the time, East Point stated that both projects would operate on a fully merchant basis with Equinor’s trading arm, Danske Commodities, providing optimisation services. Real base project returns were expected to be at the higher end of its guided range for renewables of 4-8%.
Equinor has put five BESS facilities into commercial operation over the past four years. The company stated that the projects mark East Point’s “progression from developer to independent power producer (IPP), in line with Equinor’s strategy to capture value across the value chain.”
Outside of Texas, construction has begun on Equinor’s BESS portfolio in Virginia’s PJM market. The portfolio is comprised of four projects totalling 80MW/160MWh and is on track to reach commercial operation in early 2027.
In 2025, East Point had to withdraw plans for a 116MW BESS in New York State after officials from the Town of Carmel placed an indefinite ban on the development of new utility-scale BES facilities.
A representative from East Point told Energy-Storage.news at the time that the project had been “removed from consideration for local approvals” in response to the BESS moratorium.
Texas remains an active market for BESS, despite a growing fleet of assets in competition for revenue opportunities. Last month, Denmark-headquartered multinational energy company Ørsted put its 250MW/500MWh Old 300 BESS project in Needville, Texas into operation. It is collocated with the 430MW solar PV project Old 300 Solar.
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