X-ELIO Solar-Storage Farm Supplying 48 MW to BASF Manufacturing on Texas Gulf Coast
Renewable energy developer X-ELIO has launched commercial operations at a combined solar and battery storage project that helps power consumer goods manufacturing in south Texas.
The Liberty Energy Project in Dayton combines 72 MW of solar photovoltaic capacity with 60 MW of battery storage. All that power is designed to connect into industrial firm BASF’s Freeport plant which produces raw materials for consumer goods such as diapers, food packaging, paints, carpets, glue sticks and more.
“This project supports our long-term commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 and reflects the kind of collaboration needed to build a cleaner, more resilient energy future,” said Brad Morrison, senior vice president and general manager at BASF Freeport, in a statement.
German-based global chemical products firm BASF founded the Freeport site in 1958 as its first manufacturing plant outside of Europe. BASF Freeport currently employs more than 800 people and produces nearly 30 different products.
BASF will source 48 MW of electricity from the project to help power its Freeport site as part of a 12-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) announced in 2022. Freeport is one of BASF's six global Verbund sites, which involves manufacturing, raw materials and energy management.
For X-ELIO this is its first combined solar and storage project in the United States.
“The Liberty Project represents a major step in our planned expansion in the U.S., a key market for X-ELIO,” said Lluís Noguera, Chairman and CEO at X-ELIO. “We are currently developing a pipeline of 2.8 GW of solar PV and 2.1 GW of storage projects to advance competitive energy solutions, support local communities, and power a growing American economy.”
X-ELIO is owned by private equity investor Brookfield. Earlier this year, the developer closed six U.S. power purchase agreements with companies including Cisco, IDEXX, Biogen and Waters Corp.
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EnergyTech Staff
Rod Walton is senior editor for EnergyTech.com. He has spent 17 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.