Acciona Energía battery storage plant. ACCIONA ENERGÍA (ACCIONA ENERGÍA)
The Spanish Acciona Energía has announced on Tuesday the purchase of a storage portfolio of just over 1.2 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in the United States for 248 million dollars (233 million euros).
Among the assets acquired is the largest battery in Texas (190 megawatts), which will come into operation in February of next year, as well as six other projects "in an advanced state of development."
The combined capacity of all of them, which belonged to the South Korean industrial group Hanwha, is just over two gigawatt hours (GWh) per charge cycle.
Almost 19 of the 233 million that it will cost have already been disbursed by the firm led by Rafael Mateo The agreement also contemplates future contingent payments linked to project development milestones, which may qualify for tax incentives (ITC, for its acronym in English) included in the law for the Reduction of Inflation that has just been deployed by the Joe Biden Administration and that aims to accelerate the transition towards renewables while increasing energy security and reducing the cost of energy.
The storage batteries purchased by Acciona Energía in the US "are not linked to any specific generation plant", according to the company's statement in which it makes the transaction public.
“They will supply energy and auxiliary services to the independent network operator that manages the transmission, distribution and commercialization of 90% of the electricity in Texas, one of the most active markets in the implementation of storage systems in the world”, he adds.
Batteries are essential for the definitive emergence of renewables: they allow the capture of excess energy generated from clean and intermittent sources (such as photovoltaic solar or wind) and release it at times when demand exceeds supply, stabilizing the price curves.
“Likewise, these systems contribute to reinforcing the stability of the network and improving energy security, offering a solution for exceptional or unforeseen situations or such as the one suffered in the State of Texas during the winter storm Uri in February 2021 that left without electricity supply. to more than three million homes”, reads the Acciona Energía note.
The chief executive of the Spanish energy company, Rafael Mateo, considers that, after more than 10 years working on this type of solution, the storage technology is now "ready" for commercial deployment.
"The operation is a good opportunity to strengthen Acciona Energía's presence in this market and optimize the risk profile of our portfolio," he adds.
The US is by no means a new market for Acciona's energy subsidiary.
There it already operates more than one gigawatt of wind and solar thermal energy, and it has new photovoltaic projects underway in Texas itself, in Illinois and in Ohio.
The company, listed on the Ibex 35, has a presence in around thirty countries with more than 11.4 GW of renewables in total.