Projects coming online are generating returns of around 20%, compared with single digit returns for solar and wind projects, according to Rhett Bennett, CEO of Black Mountain Energy Storage, one of the top developers in the state.
Reuters drew on previously unreported data and interviewed more than a dozen executives from private equity firms, utility companies and energy storage providers involved in some of the biggest battery storage deals for this report. They described a rush to take advantage of the high returns before they erode.
While declining, Texas’s share of U.S. grid-scale energy storage capacity will stay the second largest in the country, next only to California where battery development has been state-supported for years.And Texas is expected to account for nearly a quarter of the U.S. grid-scale storage market over the next five years, according to Wood Mackenzie projections shared with Reuters.
U.S. energy storage companies attracted $5.5 billion in investment last year, according to Mercom Capital Group. The U.S. is projected to install 65 gigawatts of grid storage over the next five years, 15 times the 4 GW added last year, according to Wood Mackenzie, buoyed by a 30% tax credit for energy storage in Biden's Inflation Reduction Act .
Waranch said battery storage plants coming online in 2025 could take up to eight years to break even compared with four or less for plants that come online in 2023.Stem Inc