Developer and operator esVolta has completed a preferred equity transaction with investor Captona for three BESS in Texas, US, while GridStor has bought a 400MWh project in Arizona.
EsVolta says the capital acquired from Captona along with the sale of investment tax credit (ITC) transfer proceeds is expected to provide a total of US$243 million in investment.
The three battery energy storage systems (BESS) projects, Anole, Desert Willow and Burksol are in Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) service region. They are expected to be operational in the first half of this year.
Anole is a 249MW/480MWh project in Seagoville, Texas, Desert Willow is a 150MW/300MWh project in Midlothian, Texas and Burksol is a 100MW/200MWh project located in Dickens County, Texas.
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According to EsVolta’s website, all three projects have undergone environmental and social impact assessments and are in the construction phase.
Esvolta and Captona both active in US market
In April 2024, after beginning construction on the three BESS projects, EsVolta secured a US$185 million senior secured credit facility to secure obligations relating to interconnection, power purchase agreements (PPAs), equipment deposits as well as early pre-NTP (notice-to-proceed) construction funding for its BESS pipeline.
EsVolta completed a US$110 million tax equity transaction with clean energy tax equity specialist investor Greenprint Capital Management in November 2024 to finance construction of the 75MW/300MWh Hummingbird BESS in San Jose, California. The project is being developed specifically to reduce utility Pacific Gas & Electric’s reliance on natural gas.
The company also secured tax equity financing for the 30MW/60MWh Santa Paula BESS project in California in 2023. Santa Paula has been operational since January 2024 and has an offtake agreement with Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) California Choice Energy Authority.
Captona has also recently announced funding of a portfolio of community solar and microgrid assets in New York and California from commercial and industrial (C&I) distributed generation and storage provider Scale Microgrids.
Captona, partnered with investor UBS Asset Management closed an investment into a portfolio of four grid-scale projects BESS projects, last Spring, in Texas totalling 728MW/1,060MWh.
Texas continues to be an active market for BESS projects, driven by ERCOT’s wholesale market’s unique structure, which enables merchant opportunities for storage developers. The state accounted for 25% of a total 3,431MW/9,188MWh US grid-scale battery storage deployments recorded in Q3 2024, according to market research firm Wood Mackenzie’s most recent US Energy Storage Monitor Report.
GridStor acquires 100MW/400MWh Arizona BESS from Capacity Power Group
Elsewhere in the US, developer-operator GridStor has acquired a 100MW/400MWh BESS in Arizona from energy storage developer Capacity Power Group.
Gridstor says this acquisition comes at a critical time for the state. Electric load in the Phoenix Metropolitan area is growing and is forecast to continue growing rapidly. According to the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state set a record high for peak energy demand during heatwaves in early August and July of 2024. As the state continues to grow, energy demands will follow.
This project will also mark the company’s third acquisition over the past year. Recently reported by Energy-Storage.news, Gridstor acquired a 200MW/800MWh BESS in Oklahoma from Black Mountain Energy Storage this year. In 2024, the company acquired a 220MW/440MWh standalone BESS project in Galveston County, Texas, which began construction in October.
GridStor, which has the backing of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, started commercial operations of its first project, the 60MW/160MWh Goleta BESS facility in California, in late 2023.
Chris Taylor, CEO of Gridstor said of the recently announced Arizona BESS acquisition: “Battery storage is a scalable and near-term solution to powering historic load growth in Arizona.”
“Every day, batteries across the state are consistently providing energy to stabilise the power system and meet hours of greatest demand. This acquisition demonstrates Gridstor’s commitment to supporting Arizona to meet the growing power needs of its residents and businesses.”
