Spearmint Energy began construction of the Revolution battery energy storage system (BESS) facility in ERCOT territory in West Texas just over a year ago. The 150 MW, 300 MWh system is among the largest BESS projects in the U.S.
Spearmint broke ground in December 2022 on Revolution in partnership with Mortenson, the EPC on the project. Sungrow Power Supply provided the PowerTitan series to the project, which is located within a wind and solar hub in the Lower Colorado River Authority’s transmission network. The PowerTitan is a liquid cooled energy storage system that uses lithium iron phosphate battery cells and a liquid cooling system.
In October 2023, Spearmint announced the close of a $92 million tax equity investment by Greenprint Capital Management, marking what Spearmint reports one of the first applications of the Investment Tax Credit structure for a standalone battery energy storage system following the passing of the Inflation Reduction Act.
During construction, Mortenson employed 34 team members and trade partners who, in approximately 42,000 working hours, installed 134 battery containers containing 6,432 battery modules, as well as 45 power conversion system units. Spearmint reports that revolution was completed on schedule, within budget and with a clean safety record.
“The project’s completion marks a major milestone for Spearmint as we cement our position as a leader in Texas’ fast-growing battery storage market,” said Andrew Waranch, founder, president, and chief executive officer of Spearmint Energy.
Spearmint is also developing three additional BESS projects, known collectively as Nomadic. The three have a combined capacity of 900 MW / 2,000 MWh. The projects are located in Cooke, Galveston and Brazoria counties and were acquired in March of 2023. Spearmint anticipates that the first project within the portfolio will reach notice to proceed in early 2024 and begin commercial operation within 12 to 18 months.
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300 MWh is perhaps big or even ‘huge’ for a battery storage but not generaly for storing energy. 300 MWh is about the energy that a typical nuclear power plant deliveres in 20 minutes.
A modern pumped hydro storage, for example (Nant-de-Drance, Switzerland), stores about 20 GWh (with turbines for 900 MW) what is about 67 times the 300 MWh.