US-based independent power producer (IPP) Broad Reach Power has said it will build 15 projects in Texas in 2020, each of them just under 10MW / 10MWh, with construction on six of them set to begin this summer.

A large-scale battery storage system will be built in Texas for the US’ biggest electric utility cooperative, to time-shift solar-generated loads and provide grid services to transmission operator ERCOT.

A large-scale energy storage project to be built in Texas will take advantage of the system’s flexibility to deliver multiple services, as opportunities grow in the state’s Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.

While market opportunities for energy storage in Texas are considered to be limited, the largest battery project in the state so far, a 42MWh system, has just come online.

Known historically for its oil and in the present day for deploying large amounts of wind energy and latterly for deploying batteries at wind farms, the US state of Texas is less well known for solar-plus-storage projects.

News in brief from around the world of energy storage.

German-American system integrator and technology provider Younicos has completed a two-phase operation to upgrade a lead acid energy storage system for lithium batteries, at the 36MW Notrees facility in Texas.

Toshiba and NRG Energy have completed a new battery energy storage system that will benefit the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ (ERCOT) grid.

The North American subsidiary of international investor-owned energy supplier E.ON has partnered with Greensmith Energy to deliver two grid-scale energy storage systems known as the Texas Waves projects.

Andy Colthorpe spoke to Energy Storage Association (ESA) executive director Matt Roberts a few weeks ago, shortly after the group’s annual conference in Dallas, Texas. Based in Washington, the organisation’s activities include advising on policy at regulatory and state level as well as encouraging technologists and researchers to share knowledge.