BESS powers up to 130,000 Texan homes and bolsters grid reliability
Vistra has announced that its DeCordova battery energy storage system (BESS) in Granbury, Texas, is online and storing and releasing electricity to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid.
The electricity and power generation company’s 260MW/260MWh battery energy storage project is, according to Vistra, the largest of its kind in the Lone Star State.
Comprised of more than 3,000 individual battery modules, DeCordova energy storage facility can reportedly store enough electricity to power approximately 130,000 average Texas residences during normal grid conditions.
The batteries capture excess electricity from the grid, primarily overnight during high wind-output hours, and can release the power when customer demand is highest.
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The facility utilises lithium-ion technology housed in containers that, in addition to project inverters, were supplied by Sungrow, the project integrator. Mortenson provided engineering and construction expertise. Project construction began in June 2021 and was finished in less than a year.
“The battery storage technology at DeCordova (provides) instantaneous-start, dispatchable generation to help balance the intermittency of renewable energy as the electric grid transitions to low-to-zero-carbon resources,” stated Curt Morgan, CEO of Vistra.
Jim Burke, Vistra president and chief financial officer, added: “DeCordova…is also co-located on the same site as our quick-start DeCordova natural gas-fueled power plant. This pairing means we essentially have a large, one-hour battery system with dispatchable, reliable generation, leading to continuity of operation and resiliency of the grid.”
First announced in September 2020, DeCordova is the second of seven new zero-carbon projects Vistra is bringing online in Texas over the next few years as part of its growing Vistra Zero portfolio.
These facilities represent a nearly $1 billion capital investment by the company within the Texas ERCOT market.
