Record-breaking power demand amid a string of triple-digit temperatures has seen the state grid issue calls for conservation this week.

As the electric grid copes with the demand, it is receiving additional support from battery storage facilities, among them, several built in West Texas.

Jupiter Power has just commenced operations at its Crossett Power Management facility in Crane County, a 200-megawatt facility with 200-megawatt hours of duration. It joins Flower Valley II, a 100-megawatt, 200-megawatt hour facility in Reeves County and three distribution facilities in Jupiter Power’s energy storage portfolio. Both are connected to transmission lines in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid.

“We reach yet another significant milestone in our ERCOT battery energy storage portfolio with the commencement of commercial operations at the Crossett facility,” said Mike Geier, Chief Technology Officer, Jupiter Power, in a statement announcing the commencement of operations. “We have witnessed the strain that the Texas climate can put on the grid during unseasonably warm days. Jupiter Power's projects like Crossett and Flower Valley II are optimally sited where the grid needs support to enhance resiliency both cost-effectively and reliably.”

When conditions are right, as they have been during this heatwave, “Things can happen quickly – a big generation plant could trip offline,” Caitlin Smith, senior director for Regulatory, External Affairs & ESG at Jupiter Power, told the Reporter-Telegram in a telephone interview. “Storage can respond quickly.”

In addition to Crossett and Flower Valley, Jupiter is commissioning the 100-megawatt, 200-megawatt hour Swoose II in Ward County that will enter commercial operations later this summer. That shows that battery storage technology “is here and ramping up quickly,” Smith said.

She estimated that Jupiter will have 425 megawatts, 650 megawatt hours in its portfolio when all projects are in operation. Battery storage, she said, is 10 times what it was in 2020 and will grow another 10 times in the next 18 months. The company has more storage projects in the permitting stage with ERCOT.

As Texas expands its use of renewable energy through the development of wind and solar farms, Smith said battery storage can increase their reliability by storing the power they generate when it isn’t needed and then discharging it into the grid at times when the wind isn’t blowing or the sun isn’t shining but the power is needed. She called it “time shifting” – storing low-cost, off-peak energy and then discharging it at times of high demand.

Too, Smith said, battery storage facilities are suitable for open areas like West Texas or in congested cities because it is less land intensive than wind or solar facilities. It’s also less costly and takes less time to construct than building transmission infrastructure.

“It’s a perfect fit for where people live,” Smith said.

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