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Enel Green Power has announced that it has completed its first large-scale hybrid solar project, Azure Sky Wind + Storage. It also added battery storage facilities to the Roadrunner and High Lonesome sites. This will help ensure that energy is available for Texas during high demand periods.
“We are committed to connecting Texans to clean, affordable electricity through our renewable projects. The Azure Sky wind + storage project, as well as storage additions at Roadrunner and High Lonesome, help to add measurable value to the state’s electricity grid,” stated Paolo Romanacci, head of Enel Green Power USA and Canada. “Enel Green Power projects offer more generation, greater resource diversity and more dispatchable storage. These are three essential elements in Texas’s plan to reform its power grid.”
Azure Sky wind + Storage is Enel Green Power’s first large-scale hybrid project. It is located in Throckmorton county. The 350 MW wind plant is expected to produce around 1.3 TWh annually of renewable energy. It is paired with a 137MW/205 MWh storage facility. Enel Green Power, a corporate partner of Akamai, Synopsys, MilliporeSigma,
Synopsys, and uber, signed an aggregated power purchasing agreement (PPA). This was to support distributed energy companies that need to collectively purchase renewable energy. To purchase clean energy, HP Hood, Kellogg Company and lululemon signed PPAs.
Grid-connected battery systems have been installed by Enel at the Roadrunner solar project and High Lonesome wind project. Each battery system will provide grid reliability by adding 57 MW/86MWh of storage capacity. This is important in a state that often experiences high demand due to extreme weather and elevated temperatures. These systems will balance intermittent generation profiles in ERCOT’s renewables-saturated western regions. Enel has 170 MWh total battery storage capacity. This allows Enel to dispatch flexible capacity and provide services to support resilience in the face of changing grid conditions in ERCOT. Enel will have 12 battery energy storage systems that can store more than 1,290 MWh of Texas electricity by early 2023.
Enel Green Power continues to invest in storage solutions in Texas, and this includes the completion of Azure Sky wind+ storage. The company has an aggressive growth strategy in the US and Canada. It plans to add 6.5GW to renewable generation and 2,600MWh storage capacity to the grid by 2024.
