Vote for Outstanding Contribution to Energy Storage Award!

Energy Storage Awards, 21 November 2024, Hilton London Bankside

UBS Asset Management buys 700MW ERCOT BESS portfolio from Black Mountain Energy Storage

LinkedIn
Twitter
Reddit
Facebook
Email

Developer Black Mountain Energy Storage (BMES) has sold 700MW of development-stage projects to UBS Asset Management, its third substantial sale in the Texas ERCOT market in two months.

The five standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) projects acquired by UBS Asset Management, part of the Switzerland-based global bank, are expected to come online in 2024. They are located on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.

This article requires Premium SubscriptionBasic (FREE) Subscription

Enjoy 12 months of exclusive analysis

  • Regular insight and analysis of the industry’s biggest developments
  • In-depth interviews with the industry’s leading figures
  • Annual digital subscription to the PV Tech Power journal
  • Discounts on Solar Media’s portfolio of events, in-person and virtual

Or continue reading this article for free

UBS said the projects will provide flexibility, responsiveness, and dispatchability to the ERCOT grid once operational.

The main revenue sources for battery energy storage projects in the state are frequency response services regulation reserve service (RRS) and a sub-set within that group called fast frequency response (RRS-FFR), and wholesale energy trading particularly around congested nodes.

“This portfolio is comprised of strategically selected, diversified projects in locations which are well-positioned for the current state of the market, as well as the dynamic growth Texas will experience in the coming years,” said, Ken-Ichi Hino, Portfolio Manager, Energy Storage Infrastructure, UBS Asset Management.

UBS Asset Management was advised on the transaction by Troutman Pepper, Clean Energy Counsel, and Euclid Power.

BMES has now sold 1,200MW of energy storage projects for delivery in ERCOT in 2024 in the last two months, with a total energy capacity of at least 1,700MWh, assuming that UBS’ acquired projects have a discharge of at least one hour.

Last week, BMES sold 400/600MWh of projects to Cypress Creek Renewables with an average duration of 1.5 hours while in June it sold two 100MW/200MWh sites to Recurrent Energy, part of Canadian Solar. In both of those cases the buyers said they would take over project development, entitlement, engineering, procurement, financing and construction and operate the sites once live.

Developers in the ERCOT market are generally moving past one-hour systems as energy trading grows as a revenue stream.

22 October 2024
New York, USA
Returning for its 11th edition, Solar and Storage Finance USA Summit remains the annual event where decision-makers at the forefront of solar and storage projects across the United States and capital converge. Featuring the most active solar and storage transactors, join us for a packed two-days of deal-making, learning and networking.
12 November 2024
San Diego, USA
As we see more storage projects become operational, the big question is “how to maximize your assets?” This event will prepare the industry for the road ahead, looking at the core fundamentals of asset management, understanding operational challenges, along with the latest optimization and software development. You can expect to meet and network with all the key industry players from major US asset owners, operators, RTOs and ISOs, optimizers, software and analytics providers, technical consultancies, O&M technology providers and more.
18 March 2025
Austin, Texas
The Energy Storage Summit USA is the only place where you are guaranteed to meet all the most important investors, developers, IPPs, RTOs and ISOs, policymakers, utilities, energy buyers, service providers, consultancies and technology providers in one room, to ensure that your deals get done as efficiently as possible. Book your ticket today to join us in 2025!
27 May 2025
London, UK
At the time of writing, Europe had had its most successful year in terms of Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with a record 7.8GW of renewable energy contracts signed. As we gather in May 2024 for the third edition of the Renewable Energy Revenues Summit, the energy landscape continues to evolve rapidly, influenced by the beating drum of climate change, volatility around power prices and the need to decarbonise power procurement as well as generation.

Read Next

October 8, 2024
Engineering consultancy Sweco has been contracted to design one of Europe’s largest battery energy storage systems with a storage capacity of 2,800MWh in Belgium.
October 8, 2024
The first batteries have been installed at state-owned Synergy’s 500MW/2,000MWh Collie battery energy storage system (BESS) in Western Australia.
October 8, 2024
On Friday (4 October), the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced Australia as an international collaborator on its Long Duration Storage Shot initiative.
October 7, 2024
Renewable energy developer TagEnergy has energised what it claims is the UK’s ‘largest’ transmission-connected battery energy storage system (BESS): the 100MW/200MWh Lakeside project in North Yorkshire.
October 4, 2024
Baltic Storage Platform, a joint venture (JV), has broken ground on two new 200MW/400MWh battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Estonia.

Most Popular

Email Newsletter