Sol Systems utilizes a community-scale solar project in Texas which partially supports energy consumption from a nearby data center operator.
Texas energy market participant Gridmatic has signed a 10-MW solar power purchase agreement (PPA) with Mars Solar, the project managed and co-owned by Sol Systems. The Mars Solar project has been operational since 2019 and is in Webb County.
The solar generation connects into the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid system and directly supports Gridmatic’s commercial and industrial retail business in the competitive Texas electricity market. A portion of that solar output serves the energy work of data center operator EdgeConneX, which is running and developing data centers in Houston and Austin.
EdgeConneX recently renewed its partnership with Gridmatic. The latter’s AI-based market forecasting seeks to match clean energy generation with data center consumption on an hourly basis.
“This PPA adds reliable, carbon-free capacity to help us meet the growing energy needs of our retail customers,” said Jackson Vo, president of retail at Gridmatic. “Sol Systems has been an exceptional partner—equally committed to driving meaningful impact, which makes this collaboration especially rewarding.”
PPAs don’t necessarily mean the customer is receiving the clean energy directly. Instead, the PPA provides capital to help build and maintain projects which are charging into the main grid.
Gridmatic is partnering on several electricity resource fronts to deliver decarbonized power into the grid for data center customers. Earlier this month, the company announced its 10-year offtake agreement with Energy Vault Holdings for its 57-MW Cross Trails Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) in Scurry County.
The offtake agreement is the first physically settled revenue floor contract signed for a battery storage system in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid system. Cross Trails will provide energy and ancillary services to support renewable energy production and grid resiliency within ERCOT, including participating in Day Ahead Energy Trading.
Texas ranks second nationally in the number of data centers located within the state, second only to California. Virginia leads the U.S. with data center load density per capita. The 9th Microgrid Knowledge Conference was partially focused on data center energy needs and was held this April in Dallas.
