esVolta has closed a US$139.6 million project financing package with MUFG Bank for its 300MWh Boxcar energy storage project in Texas, US.
The financing arrangement with MUFG Bank, one of the world’s leading project finance lenders, includes a construction loan, a tax equity bridge loan, letters of credit and term loan facilities to support both construction and long-term operation of the Boxcar project.
Located in Wylie, Texas, northeast of Dallas, the facility will deliver 150MW of power output, alongside its 300MWh of energy storage, to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market when it becomes operational in 2027.
The project represents an expansion of esVolta’s Texas portfolio, which will reach 1.56GWh of storage capacity across five battery storage projects once Boxcar comes online.
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This growth trajectory reflects the broader transformation occurring across Texas’s power system, where battery storage has emerged as a critical component of grid reliability and resilience.
Texas’s experience with extreme weather events has demonstrated the vital role that energy storage plays in maintaining power system stability during periods of peak demand and supply constraints.
esVolta has secured a long-term offtake agreement with an unnamed major corporate customer for the Boxcar project. This corporate backing provides revenue certainty that underpins the project’s financing structure while addressing the fundamental market challenge of ensuring adequate returns on capital-intensive storage investments.
“MUFG is a premier lender in the energy infrastructure space, and their support of Boxcar reflects strong confidence in both the project and esVolta’s platform,” said Justin Johns, chief financial officer of esVolta.
“As ERCOT continues to experience rapid load growth and continued volatility, projects like Boxcar are essential to maintaining grid stability and delivering reliable power when it’s needed most.”
esVolta was advised by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP on the transaction, while MUFG was advised by Winston & Strawn LLP, indicating the sophisticated legal frameworks now supporting large-scale storage investments.
Texas emerges as national storage leader
The Boxcar financing comes as Texas has established itself as the nation’s dominant energy storage market, entering 2026 with 13.9GW and 22.9GWh of commercially operational grid-scale battery storage capacity.
This leadership position has been driven by the state’s unique market dynamics, including its isolated grid system, rapid renewable energy growth, and the lessons learned from extreme weather events that have tested system resilience.
The role of battery storage in supporting grid reliability became particularly evident during recent winter storms, where energy storage systems provided critical support during peak demand periods.
Randolph Mann, founder & CEO, esVolta, recently penned an op-ed in Energy-Storage.news discussing how a history of winter storms teaches us about the future of energy storage in Texas.
Mann noted that during Winter Storm Fern in late January 2026, esVolta’s existing fleet delivered more than 5,500MWh of energy and over 5,000MWh of ancillary services to the ERCOT grid, with the bulk delivered during the most critical intervals when power supply was tightest.
The success of Texas’s storage deployment has been enhanced by ERCOT’s implementation of the Real-Time Co-optimisation Plus Batteries (RTC+B) market design in December 2025, which optimises energy reserves against real-time energy needs to advance cost-effective grid flexibility and stability.
This market evolution has improved the economic signals for storage resources while enhancing their operational effectiveness during critical grid events.
However, the state faces mounting challenges as electricity demand continues to surge due to data centre development, industrial expansion, and population growth.
Forward power prices remain relatively low despite occasional price spikes during extreme events, creating uncertainty around the economic signals needed to motivate new resource builds at the scale required to meet projected demand growth.
esVolta’s successful financing of the Boxcar project builds on the company’s track record in Texas, where it has been developing, building, and operating standalone battery energy storage assets since 2017.
In 2025, esVolta put three BESS projects totalling 490MW/980MWh into commercial operation in Texas. The company’s portfolio approach, backed by Generate Capital’s sustainable infrastructure investment platform, positions esVolta to continue expanding its national footprint with over 25GWh of future storage projects in its pipeline.
