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    Texas Public Utility Commissioners considering new Distribution Interconnection standards for Battery Storage

    April 4, 2022
    With some 65 GW of solar and storage already in the interconnection queue, the TPUC is concerned about an unknown amount of BESS eventually linking into the distribution system.
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    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages that state’s electric grid, has an incoming power distribution problem bigger than you can hang a hat on.

    Recent discussions within the Texas Public Utility Commission concerns challenges over vast amounts of utility-scale solar and energy storage capacity joining into the already massive and diverse ERCOT system. The TPUC also wants to figure out cohesive policy on handling that influx of solar and storage as it enters the distribution grid.

    “There are 36,000 MWs of utility-scale solar plus energy storage systems, and over 31,000 MW of stand-alone storage in the ERCOT Interconnection queue,” TPUC Commissioner Jimmy Glotfelty wrote in an open memo to Chairman Peter Lake and fellow commissioners Lori Cobos and Will McAdams.

    Beyond that may be a potential torrent of battery energy storage systems either within utility-scale or perhaps microgrid projects on a more customer-facing level.

    “Unfortunately it is unknown how many megawatts of battery storage are seeking to interconnect to the distribution systems across ERCOT’s utilities, municipal utilities and electric cooperatives,” Glotfelty added. “The lack of visility into these distribution assets is an oversight.”

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    TPUC and ERCOT worked together in standarding the transmission voltage side of the generation interconnection equation back in the 1990s. Glotfelty argued that the situation on the distributed energy resource level is just as crucial.

    “There is no standardization across utilities related to the costs, timing, and terms of conditions of interconnection,” he wrote. “Rather than address these issues in a piecemeal fashion through contested cases which increase the potential for contradictory policies, I believe we are better served by addressing these important policies up front in a forum in which all market participants can participate.”

    Late last year, independent power producer Broad Reach Power brought two 100-MW BESS projects online. Those are located in Mason and Williamson counties.

    This year, engineering and construction firm Burns & McDonnell completed three 10-MW/20-MWh installations in west Texas.

    Last year, it was revealed that Tesla was working on a 100-MW Megapack BESS near the Arlington region.

    Texas is one of five states which account for more than 70 percent of nationwide battery storage capacity, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The others are California, Illinois, Massachusetts and Hawaii.

    Energy storage systems are viewed as an ideal component to pair with intermittent wind and solar resources. Texas is home to a nation-lead wind power capacity of close to 36 GW, according to reports.

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    (Rod Walton, senior editor for EnergyTech, is a 14-year veteran of covering the energy industry both as a newspaper and trade journalist. He can be reached at [email protected]).

    Follow us on Twitter @EnergyTechNews_

    About the Author

    Rod Walton, EnergyTech Managing Editor | Senior Editor

    For EnergyTech editorial inquiries, please contact Managing Editor Rod Walton at [email protected].

    Rod Walton has spent 15 years covering the energy industry as a newspaper and trade journalist. He formerly was energy writer and business editor at the Tulsa World. Later, he spent six years covering the electricity power sector for Pennwell and Clarion Events. He joined Endeavor and EnergyTech in November 2021.

    Walton earned his Bachelors degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma. His career stops include the Moore American, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise, Wagoner Tribune and Tulsa World. 

    EnergyTech is focused on the mission critical and large-scale energy users and their sustainability and resiliency goals. These include the commercial and industrial sectors, as well as the military, universities, data centers and microgrids. The C&I sectors together account for close to 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

    He was named Managing Editor for Microgrid Knowledge and EnergyTech starting July 1, 2023

    Many large-scale energy users such as Fortune 500 companies, and mission-critical users such as military bases, universities, healthcare facilities, public safety and data centers, shifting their energy priorities to reach net-zero carbon goals within the coming decades. These include plans for renewable energy power purchase agreements, but also on-site resiliency projects such as microgrids, combined heat and power, rooftop solar, energy storage, digitalization and building efficiency upgrades.

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