Construction activities are underway on an additional 770 megawatts of battery storage projects in the U.S. Globally, RWE’s battery storage capacity now stands at around 700 MW.
RWE continues to deliver on its Growing Green Strategy. In the U.S., the company is further expanding its green energy portfolio with the recent completion of three new battery energy storage systems (BESS) totaling 190 MW (361 MWh) in the States of Texas and Arizona. The three BESS projects – Bright Arrow, Big Star and Mesquite 4 – bring RWE’s total battery storage capacity in the U.S. to about 512 MW. The company has in the U.S. further battery projects with a total capacity of 770 MW under construction. Globally, RWE’s battery storage capacity now totals to about 700 MW, with more than 1 GW under construction.
Andrew Flanagan, CEO of RWE Clean Energy: “Battery storage is growing even more critical to enable the rapid deployment of wind and solar projects, help stabilize the U.S. power grid and better ensure that enough electric supply is available to meet demand. As part of our Growing Green Strategy, we’re planning to increase our battery portfolio globally to 6 gigawatts by 2030, and these three new systems are contributing to that goal.”
Battery energy storage systems supply flexible and affordable electricity when it is needed most, making them an ideal partner for renewables. The three new BESS are paired with solar, allowing them to store excess electricity and send it back to the grid at a later time.
Bright Arrow: 100 MW (200 MWh) battery storage with 300 MWac solar PV project in Sulphur Springs, Texas. The project came online in December, with an additional 200 MWac of solar scheduled to achieve commercial operation in spring 2024. The BESS will participate in the ERCOT market and the solar PV electricity output will be provided to an affiliate of NRG Energy, Inc.
Big Star: 80 MW (120 MWh) battery storage and 200 MWac solar PV project in Bastrop County, Texas. Big Star is completing the testing and scheduled to achieve commercial operation in March 2024. The BESS will participate in the ERCOT market and the solar PV electricity output will be provided to a third party.
Mesquite 4: 10 MW (40 MWh) battery storage and 52.5 MWac solar project in Maricopa County, Arizona, which is expected to come online later this month. The solar PV electricity output and BESS services will be provided to Modesto Irrigation District (MID).
As a driver of the energy transition, RWE develops, builds and operates battery storage systems in Europe, Australia and the US. Currently, the company operates battery storage systems with an overall capacity of around 500 MW and has more than 1 GW of battery storage projects under construction worldwide. RWE is planning to expand its battery storage business to 6 GW worldwide by 2030.
At the start of 2023, RWE commissioned a large battery system in Lingen and Werne (both Germany) with a total capacity of 117 MW. A 220 MW project is currently under construction at two locations in North Rhine-Westphalia. In the Netherlands a 35 MW BESS is under construction at RWE’s Eemshaven power plant. In 2023, the company acquired UK solar and battery developer JBM Solar with an advanced battery project development pipeline of 2.3 GW. RWE is planning, building and operating innovative combined solar and storage plants in its German opencast mining sites. In addition, the company has won the bid for a long-duration battery storage system (50 megawatts/400 MWh) in Australia. In the US, the company connected its first utility-scale battery storage system to the California electric grid in 2023. The 137 MW Fifth Standard facility—the company’s largest storage facility to date – collocates with a 150-MW solar PV array in Fresno County, California.
