After reaching agreements on a series of projects in Australia and other global locations, Westlake Village-based energy storage company Energy Vault Holdings Inc. last month had news on two domestic battery storage projects in Texas.
On June 11, Energy Vault announced the start of commercial operation of a 57-megawatt battery energy storage system in Snyder, Texas. This West Texas project is also its first owned and operated system to reach commercial operation stage.
One week earlier, Energy Vault announced an agreement with Austin, Texas-based energy storage company Jupiter Power Inc. to add a 100-megawatt battery energy storage system at an existing Jupiter Power site in the Lone Star state. The exact location of the site was not disclosed.
Strategy to own and operate
The Snyder battery energy storage plant is the first fruit of a strategy Energy Vault launched last year to build and operate its own plants. Until then, the company had partnered on projects with other power plant developers. The goal was to develop a portfolio with more predictable revenue streams.
“When we started down the path of pursuing an ‘Own & Operate’ asset management strategy in 2024, our goal was to create a model that allows Energy Vault to generate predictable and recurring revenue at high margins and accretive cash flow streams, enhancing the long-term value we deliver to our shareholders,” said Robert Piconi, Energy Vault’s chief executive.
Besides the revenue predictability, Piconi said the strategy allows Energy Vault to become a major player in select power markets. Under the partnership arrangements, Energy Vault often has to play second-fiddle to the main project developer.
Piconi noted the company has two other owned-and-operated battery energy storage plants in development: one in Calistoga in Northern California to store hydrogen-generated power for San Francisco-based Pacific Gas & Electric and the other project site it acquired in the northern portion of Queensland province in Australia.
Partnership with Jupiter Power
The other battery energy storage plant under development with Jupiter Power will use Energy Vault’s power management platform to control, manage and optimize plant operation.
The announcement said the plant is to open later this summer and start bringing up to 100 megawatts of power onto the grid managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, that state’s main power grid operator.
Energy Vault and Jupiter Power have partnered on other battery energy storage projects, including one that opened last year near Fort Stockton in the southwest portion of the state.
Jupiter Power’s Chief Technology Officer Michael Geier said Energy Vault has proven to be a nimble partner on those previous projects.
“As one of the largest battery storage developers and operators in the U.S., we look for partners who can keep pace with our ambition and scale,” Geier said.
