ENGIE: 1 Gigawatt of Battery Storage Capacity Added In USA This Year
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I just wrote about how battery energy storage is massively helping to extend the usefulness of solar energy into the evening in California. It is quickly transforming the California electricity grid. Then I saw this news from ENGIE, thanks to one of our content curators. ENGIE has now reached more than 1.8 gigawatts (GW) of installed battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity in the United States, and 1 GW of that was just added since January 2024! (Side note: ENGIE uses the term GW, which refers to power storage capacity, throughout the news release … except in one place, where the company says “The ENGIE portfolio of BESS provides dispatchable energy, which in total is now capable of providing around 1.8 GWh across the combination of ERCOT and CAISO – ready to dispatch at a moment’s notice.” So, it’s not clear what the case is here — the company could have both 1.8 GW and 1.8 GWh of BESS capacity installed, or it could be referring to one of those with the wrong metric in some places. I’m going to assume the former.)
California isn’t discussed or highlighted much here, but ENGIE must be playing a role and does mention CAISO (the California Independent System Operator) briefly. The other giant state working rapidly to integrate renewables into the grid is highlighted, though. That would be Texas. “With 24 projects now operating across the U.S., of which 6 were commissioned this year, ENGIE is among the largest operators of BESS in the country, and one of the largest independent operators of batteries supporting the ERCOT system in Texas,” the company writes.
“This new milestone strengthens ENGIE’s position as a leader of the energy transition in the United States, where the Group already has significant footprints through its renewable assets and its energy management platform,” ENGIE notes.
“The growth in ENGIE’s BESS fleet was accelerated by the pivotal acquisition of industry leader Broad Reach Power (BRP) in August 2023. The successful integration of BRP has not only added to ENGIE’s existing portfolio of development projects, but critically included industry leading solutions, expertise and experience. ENGIE now brings increased flexibility to the grid, allowing a better integration of renewable energies and thus contributes to speed up the energy transition.”
This is going to be the story more and more in Texas, as in California, and of course in other markets around the country and the world as they add more renewable energy to the grid. The BESS market is going to absolutely explode in the coming decade or two. ENGIE is certainly well equipped to profit from that.
“We are extremely proud of the delivery of so many battery projects over the past year, enabling ENGIE to play a leading role in adding storage and other ancillary services to the grid in a material way” said David Carroll, Chief Renewables Officer and Senior VP, ENGIE North America. “Storage and other services are critical additions to support grid reliability. I’m honored that on a number of occasions this summer, ENGIE has been one of the largest contributors of storage dispatch into the ERCOT system for example – helping to balance the grid at some of the most critical moments.”
The company has been installing both standalone projects and projects co-located with solar PV power plants. The projects also cover a wide range of sizes — from 10 MW to 200 MW in power capacity (again, the company does not indicate energy storage capacity here, only power capacity). The largest solar power project ENGIE’s storage systems are associated with is the 320 MW “Five Wells” solar power plant in Bell County, TX.
ENGIE has also been developing solar and wind energy power plants for years. The company has 8 GW of solar and wind power projects in operation or in construction across North America.
Featured image courtesy of ENGIE.
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