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    Ormat starts Commercial Ops on Battery Storage projects in Texas, NJ

    June 28, 2023
    Image credit Ormat Technologies
    Ormat Bess 649c52b0a4aea

    Ormat Technologies has begun commercial operations for two new battery energy storage facilities in separate parts of the United States.

    The two BESS facilities, in Texas and New Jersey, are part of four projects with a total capacity of 62MW/62MWh planned for the first half of 2023, with a cumulative capacity of 43MW/43MWh, the company reported.

    Doron Blachar, Ormat Technologies' CEO has stated that Ormat has met all electricity segment growth targets and completed the construction of four power plants, which includes the 25-MW North Valley geothermal power plant, the 6 MW Brady Solar facility, the recovery of Heber 1, and the 6-MW upgrade to the Dixie Valley power plant, since the start of 2023.

    Ormat aims to expand its renewable power portfolio and demonstrate a total increase of 99 MW in all segments to reach 1,257 MW.

    Blachar added that the company is planning to introduce two additional assets in 2023 and achieve between 500 to 530 MW and over 1 GW-hour in total capacity by the end of 2025. These will further support top-line and EBITDA expansion.

    The completed projects include:

    •      The Upton project, a 23MW/23MWh Battery Energy Storage System located in Texas, will provide energy and ancillary services to the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas and support the electric grid in times of scarcity.

    •       The Andover BESS project, a 20MW/20MWh located in New Jersey, will provide ancillary services to PJM.

    •       The previously announced commercial operation of the 12MW/12MWh Bowling Green and 7MW/7MWh Howell BESS projects, located in Ohio and New Jersey, respectively, that provide ancillary services to PJM.

     “Ormat will now be able to maximize the economic advantages of these storage assets as they become eligible for Investment Tax Credits (ITC) for the first time,” said Doron Blachar, CEO of Ormat Technologies. “This eligibility allows us to claim approximately 30 percent of the asset value in tax credits, reducing our capital needs and enhancing earnings.”

    As of May, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which oversees the Texas grid, reported some 96 GW of battery storage capacity requested for interconnection into the system. Energy storage requests ranked second behind only 129 GW in solar in the interconnection queue through this decade, according to ERCOT.

    About the Author

    EnergyTech Staff

    Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 14 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist.

    Walton formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    He can be reached at [email protected]. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids.

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.