Texas Generator Brings 260-Megawatt Battery Storage Project Online

by Paul Ciampoli
APPA News Director
May 25, 2022

Texas-based power generator Vistra on May 23 announced that its DeCordova Energy Storage Facility in Granbury, Texas, is now online. The 260-megawatt/260 megawatt-hour battery energy storage project is the largest of its kind in Texas, according to Vistra.

Jim Burke, Vistra president and chief financial officer, said that the facility “offers a unique value proposition — not only can this battery system provide instantaneous full power to the grid with the flip of a switch, but it is also co-located on the same site as our quick-start DeCordova natural gas-fueled power plant.”

He said that this pairing “means we essentially have a large, one-hour battery system with dispatchable, reliable generation, leading to continuity of operation and resiliency of the grid. In addition, these gas-fueled generation units have seven days of diesel backup in the event of any disruption of natural gas supplies, which is yet another example of the resiliency aspect of the Decordova site.”

First announced in September 2020, DeCordova is the second of seven new zero-carbon projects Vistra is bringing online in Texas over the next few years as part of its growing Vistra Zero portfolio. These new power generation facilities represent a nearly $1 billion capital investment by the company within the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market.

DeCordova Energy Storage Facility utilizes lithium-ion technology housed in containers that, in addition to project inverters, were supplied by Sungrow, the project integrator. Mortenson provided engineering and construction expertise.

Project construction began in June 2021 and was finished in less than a year.

Along with DeCordova and Brightside Solar Facility, Vistra is also completing the 108-MW Emerald Grove Solar Facility in Crane County ahead of summer.

The American Public Power Association’s Public Power Energy Tracker is a resource for association members that summarizes public power energy storage projects that are currently online. The tracker is available here.