Ormat Technologies has begun the commercial operation of the Rabbit Hill Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) facility, providing required ancillary services and energy optimization to the wholesale markets managed by the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), reports Renewable Energy Magazine.
The facility is located in the City of Georgetown, Texas, and it is sized to provide approximately 10 MW of fast responding capacity to the ERCOT market. Ormat’s wholly owned subsidiary Viridity Energy Solutions Inc. designed, built, owns and operates the lithium-ion-based BESS, using batteries from a tier 1 supplier.
The Rabbit Hill BESS facility is our first energy storage system in Texas” commented Isaac Angel, CEO. “The system provides fast responding capacity, helping ERCOT maintain grid reliability, as it copes with changes in supply and demand, driven by the growing penetration of wind and solar generation, more frequent extreme weather events and other challenges. Our state-of-the-art system was designed to be able to provide all types of ancillary services required by ERCOT, including fast frequency response. Our first BESS project in Texas and the fifth to our Energy Storage and Management Services segment, marks another milestone in our strategy to develop, own and operate energy storage facilities in several key US markets, also including New Jersey, New England and California. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to operate in new means, Ormat continues to attract new business in the energy storage market, expanding in terms of MW, operation and ownership.”
LS Energy Solutions served as the system integrator, providing a state-of-the art solution that interfaces with Ormat’s on-site energy management system and remote network operations center.