As Texas energy demand increases, Enel Green Power installs more renewable & storage capacity

Enel Green Power announced the completion of its first large-scale hybrid wind project, Azure Sky Wind + Storage, as well as the addition of battery storage facilities at the operating Roadrunner and High Lonesome renewable project sites, helping ensure energy availability for Texans amid high demand periods.

“We’re committed to connecting Texans with clean and cost-effective electricity through our renewable projects. The Azure Sky wind + storage project and storage additions at Roadrunner and High Lonesome help to add measurable value in the form of storage capacity and reliability to support the state’s electricity system,” said Paolo Romanacci, head of Enel Green Power in the US and Canada. “Enel Green Power’s projects provide more generation, more resource diversity, and more dispatchable storage – three key elements of Texas’s goal to reform its power grid.”   

Located in Throckmorton County, Azure Sky wind + storage is Enel Green Power’s first large-scale hybrid wind project globally. Features include a 350 MW wind facility, expected to generate around 1.3 TWh of renewable energy yearly, paired with a 137 MW/205 MWh battery storage facility. To support companies with distributed energy needs to collaboratively purchase renewable energy, Enel Green Power signed an aggregated power purchase agreement (PPA) with corporate partners Akamai, MilliporeSigma, Synopsys and Uber. Kellogg Company, HP Hood and lululemon also signed PPAs to purchase clean energy output.  

Enel has installed grid-connected battery systems at the sites of the Roadrunner solar and High Lonesome wind projects. Each battery system will add 57 MW/86 MWh of storage capacity to the grid, supporting grid reliability in a state often experiencing high demand from elevated temperatures and extreme weather. The systems will also help balance intermittent generation profiles in the renewables-saturated western region of ERCOT. With a total of 170 MWh of battery storage capacity between the two projects, Enel can dispatch flexible capacity, providing services to support resiliency amid shifting grid conditions in ERCOT. By early 2023, Enel will operate a portfolio of 12 battery energy storage systems able to store over 1,290 MWh in Texas.

The completion of Azure Sky wind + storage, coupled with the addition of new battery capacity at existing project sites, supports Enel Green Power’s ongoing commitment to investing in storage solutions in Texas and beyond. In the US and Canada, the company is pursuing an aggressive growth strategy with plans to add 6.5GW of new renewable generation and 2,600 MWh of storage capacity to the grid in this region by the end of 2024.