Independent power producer (IPP) Cypress Creek Renewables has reached commercial operation of a 208MW solar-plus-storage facility in Texas, US.
The Zier Solar + Storage project is paired with a 40MW/80MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) and has already been used by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) transmission network, which covers most of Texas, to ease up grid supply strain during increased demand.
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Financing for the project was supplied by German commercial bank Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale, among others, in 2022, when Cypress Creek secured US$216 million in financing for the project.
The IPP has been developing renewable projects in Texas since 2014 and has 1GW of operational capacity. The company, was acquired by private equity firm EQT Partners in 2021, has a pipeline of 6GW between 24 projects in construction or development, including a 100MWh standalone BESS project near Houston that is expected to reach commercial operation next month.
Judd Messer, Texas vice president of the Advanced Power Alliance, said: “Solar energy is ensuring sufficient capacity during day-time peak, setting records nearly every month, and quick-responding energy storage delivers a substantial reliability benefit when demand soars or when dispatchable energy unexpectedly falls offline.”
According to a recent report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Texas was the US state with the most solar PV capacity in its interconnection queue as of the end of 2023.