Spearmint Energy charges Texas battery storage ambitions with 900MW portfolio acquisition
The Miami-based start-up is bullish on Texas, the largest and fastest growing US state clean energy electric power market
Startup Spearmint Energy has acquired a three-project, 900MW/2GWh portfolio of battery storage projects under development in Texas, the number two US clean energy storage state.
Launched last May, the Miami-based green energy project developer and merchant trading company did not disclose transaction terms or name the seller of the assets.
Spearmint said with the acquisition, in addition to a 150MW/300MWh project called Revolution under construction in West Texas, it is now among the largest battery energy storage developers in the state.
The three acquired projects are collectively known as Nomadic. Two are in southeast Texas near the Gulf of Mexico and the other in North Texas near Dallas.
“A collection of state-of-the-art energy storage projects, Nomadic will enable Spearmint to continue to execute our mission of facilitating the clean energy revolution through the delivery of power to the grid efficiently, safely, and where communities need it most,” said CEO Andrew Waranch.
“Spearmint expects commercial operations to begin 12-18 months after notice to proceed – so late 2024 to mid-2025,” it said in an email.
In the interim, it expects the Revolution project that began construction last November to begin commercial operation in the middle of this year.
Uri, whose historic cold temperatures caused havoc to the entire Texas energy system and more than 200 deaths, cost wind farm operators alone around $4.2bn from lost production, according to specialist consultancy ArcVera Renewables.
Among other things, the Texas freeze underscored the need for grid investment and more effective energy trading and storage strategies.
The US installed a record 4GW/12.1GWh of battery storage in 2022 despite supply chain turmoil and federal tax and trade policy uncertainties. On 1 January, Texas had 1.87GW/2.26GWh of total operating storage capacity, behind only California with 4.93GW/17.93GWh, according to American Clean Power Association, a national trade group.
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