Powin and Linxon secure 600MWh of BESS project contracts in ERCOT, Texas market

Global battery storage system integrator Powin and recently-launched EPC firm Linxon have secured battery storage project contracts in ERCOT, Texas, totalling 400MWh and 200MWh respectively.

Oregon-based Powin will supply its grid-scale battery energy storage platform Centipede for developer Apex Energy on two projects of 100MW/200MWh each in the ERCOT market, along with its StackOS battery management system (BMS).

Apex has developed and will build, own and operate the projects, Angelo Storage and Great Kiskadee Storage. Angelo is co-located with the 195MW Angelo Solar Project, in San Angelo, Tom Green County. A media statement did not give an expected commissioning date.

The projects will provide energy arbitrage, or energy trading, and ancillary grid services to help ERCOT maintain grid reliability. The ERCOT market is expected to move more towards trading as the capacity of battery storage projects begins to outstrip the existing ancillary service market.

Geoff Brown, CEO of Powin, said: “With visibility and control down to the battery cell level, our platform can respond to changing grid conditions in real-time. As these new storage projects are deployed, ERCOT customers in the region will have the assurance of a climate-resilient grid backed by Powin’s technology.”

In concurrent news, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm Linxon has signed an exclusivity agreement for a 100MW/200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project with developer Available Power, also in Texas.

Available Power launched the Greenport project last year and previously expected it to reach COD (commercial operation date) in 2024, but has now pushed that back to Q1 2025. The developer partnered with Linxon on its pipeline of projects earlier this year so the award of Greenport does not come as a surprise.

Available Power’s VP business development Alex Krass discussed the partnership in an interview at the Energy Storage Summit USA in Austin, Texas, last month. Linxon is a joint venture between engineering firm SNC-Lavalin and Hitachi Energy.

“We sell the projects at NTP (notice-to-proceed) but with the Linxon relationship, we have the contracts, the equipment procured and everything in place, so it’s sort of a turnkey approach to the asset buyer who doesn’t need to bring any of that themselves. They just sign on the dotted line and provide the capital to bring it to fruition,” Krass told Energy-Storage.news.

Linxon will oversee the design, construction, installation, and testing of all equipment required for the BESS installation, including a 345/34.5kV, 130 MVA step-up power transformer, 345kV AIS equipment, battery enclosures, inverter skid with coupling transformer, inverter control system/EMS, and station auxiliary supply system.

Energy-Storage.news also interviewed Powin president Anthony Carroll at Energy Storage Summit USA. While discussing the implications of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) in general terms, he said the following which tangentially touches on both of this week’s announcements:

“Rather than just build the cheapest project out there and then flip, I really think it (the IRA) changed people’s mindsets by creating a framework for people to see energy storage as a 20-year asset. That is because of the long-term investment that the US and other governments around the world are committing to the technology.”