In this US news roundup, OCI Energy, MN8 Energy, GridStor, and Grenergy advance battery energy storage system (BESS) projects in Texas, California, Colorado, and Georgia.
OCI begins construction on 480MWh Texas BESS
Developer-operator OCI Energy and utility CPS Energy have started construction on the 120MW/480MWh Alamo City BESS in Bexar County, Texas.
CPS and OCI, along with their project teams, marked the start of construction on 19 May with a ceremonial groundbreaking. The companies claim it will be one of the largest standalone BESS projects in the region. Elgin Power Solutions serves as the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor.
OCI developed and financed the Alamo City BESS and will retain ownership under a long‑term storage capacity agreement (SCA) with CPS Energy, who will have operational control of the facility to serve the San Antonio, Texas region.
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Energy-Storage.news reported in September 2025 that OCI had closed construction financing for the project with Dutch multinational bank ING underwriting the package, which included a construction-to-term loan, a tax equity bridge loan, and letters of credit.
OCI entered into the 20-year SCA with CPS in 2024. When it was announced, the project was expected to enter commercial operation in the first half of 2026, OCI then updated that timeframe to Q3 2027. With its construction announcement, OCI notes the project is expected to enter commercial operation “in 2027.”
In May 2025, OCI Energy president, Sabah Bayatli, discussed with ESN Premium, the Alamo City’s 4-hour duration, which is not typically seen in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market, a region that often favours 1 to 2-hour duration projects.
“The end-user for long-duration energy storage (LDES) more generally is utilities. They need to balance their own load and they think about that on a long-term basis. I think CPS will eventually use this project to balance its load.”
He continued, “A merchant project would typically not do 4-hours as they do their modelling on price spreads and their financial model will see a 1-2 hour system as optimal. They make their decision based on economics, while utilities have a more long-term view.”
In that same month, OCI signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with South Korean battery manufacturer LG Energy Solutions’ US energy storage division, LG Energy Vertech, for the Alamo City project.
The MOU sees LG Energy Solution Vertech supplying OCI with the BESS and energy management technology.
MN8 Energy begins operations of 400MWh California BESS
US storage and solar developer-operator MN8 Energy has begun commercial operations of the 100MW/400MWh Pome BESS project, in Poway, California.
Announced 19 May, Pome is fully contracted to California community choice aggregator (CCA) Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) under a 10-year tolling agreement.
SCP will use the project to store, manage and dispatch electricity into the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) market.
Located on in an industrial area of San Diego County, MN8 claimed that over its first seven to 10 years of operation, Pome is expected to generate US$20 million in revenue for local governments and approximately US$28 million in new property tax contributions, funding schools and essential public services.
In late 2025, another CCA, Clean Power Alliance (CPA), moved closer to executing two separate agreements from its “Innovation Solicitation”. As part of that solicitation, Miami-headquartered startup Exowatt sought a letter of support from CPA for a demonstration-scale development utilising its P3 thermal BESS solution.
The project will be paired with an existing resource owned by MN8 and provide 10MW/80MWh of capacity over 20 years. MN8 will lead development and operations on the project, which is expected for 2029.
GridStor acquires 796MWh Colorado BESS
US-based developer and operator of grid-scale BESS, GridStor, has acquired the 199MW/796MWh Birdseye BESS project in Adams County, Colorado, from renewables developer Accelergen.
The project’s commercial operations date is planned for the end of 2028, with construction anticipated to begin as early as 2027. GridStor claimed that during construction, the project is expected to create an estimated 115 full-time jobs.
Notably, the acquisition of Birdseye marks the company’s fifth project acquisition within the last 18 months, and the company notes, its second in the Western US.
In March 2024, GridStor acquired the 220MW/440MWh Hidden Lakes Reliability project from Balanced Rock Power, a developer of utility-scale solar PV and BESS.
In September 2024, the company acquired the 100MW/400MWh White Tank BESS from Strata Clean Energy, in Arizona.
The company also acquired a 100MW/400MWh BESS project in Arizona from Capacity Power Group.
In early 2025 Gridstor acquired a 200MW/800MWh BESS in Oklahoma from Black Mountain Energy Storage.
Chris Taylor, CEO of GridStor, noted in announcing acquisition of Birdseye, “We are actively expanding our portfolio by acquiring high-quality projects. One of our core strengths is efficiently transitioning projects from the development phase to operational status.”
He continued, “We look forward to bringing more battery storage facilities online to support power system reliability for Western utilities.”
Grenergy signs 20-year PPA with Georgia Power
Independent power producer (IPP) Grenergy has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with utility Georgia Power for 100% of the output from the Beaver Creek hybrid project.
Announced 20 May, Beaver Creek, located in Baldwin County, Georgia, will feature 229MW of solar PV capacity paired with a 183MWh BESS. Commercial operation is expected to begin in Q3 of 2028, with the PPA taking effect in May 2029.
Georgia Power will operate the BESS. Grenergy claims the project will have a yearly output of approximately 400GWh.
Grenergy has an operational headquarters in Birmingham, Alabama, and operate two standalone BESS projects in Texas, the 25MW Stadium and 25MW La Feria facilities.
The company stated that it is seeking to replicate the solar PV combined with BESS hybrid project model in the US, that it has established in Chile and is expanding in Europe.
Grenergy is very active in Chile. In March, it ordered 2,600Mwh of BESS equipment from Chinese manufacturer BYD for the Central Oasis solar-plus-storage project.
This followed the company raising US$355 million in senior non-recourse financing for three of the Central Oasis projects, totalling 398MW of solar PV and 1.4GWh of BESS.
Last month, Grenergy entered into a long-term toll with an ‘investment grade’ international utility for a solar PV co-located BESS of 680MWh in Spain. The toll covers the BESS portion of the project, which also includes 200MW of solar PV.
