El Paso Electric selects 100MW of storage for 370MW

Image: El Paso Electric via Facebook.

El Paso Electric will purchase power projects that include 100 MW of energy storage facilities through a competitive bidding process.

The Texas-based company, which serves more than 400,000 customers in that state and New Mexico, believes it will need additional generation and energy management resources when electricity demand peaks in the summer months of 2022 and 2023. The company currently has about 2,153 megawatts of generation capacity.

As a result, El Paso Electric issued the 2017 All Source Request for Power Supply and Load Management Resources, which competitively bid for the construction of new projects such as solar, energy storage, and natural gas, and for the procurement of electricity from third-party owned generation facilities.

The winning bidder still needs to obtain the necessary environmental and construction permits and receive approval from the Public Utilities Commission of Texas and the New Mexico Public Regulatory Commission. El Paso Electric said the selected projects and diverse portfolio are consistent with the need to deploy "cost-effective, diverse and competitive energy resources" for customers in expanding its portfolio and in line with the strategic goal of "maintaining a leading position in advancing renewable energy."

Optional items:

200MW large-scale solar power station

100MW Energy Storage

Added 226MW natural gas gas turbine unit to the existing power station

Procurement of 50 to 150MW of wind and solar power

The 2022-2023 peak period is defined as May 1, 2022 to May 1, 2023, and the RFP (Request for Proposal) calls for 50MW of new capacity by 2022 and 320MW by 2023. As of October this year, bids have been received, and the types of resources eligible for participation are "conventional generation with cycling capabilities," "renewable energy," "load management," and "energy storage." The document does not distinguish between different types of energy storage, whether batteries or otherwise. The planned natural gas power plant is expected to cost $143 million and will be put into operation at a later stage.

In mid-December, El Paso Electric also issued an RFP for a feasibility study for a large-scale solar-plus-storage project that would provide facilities for New Mexico State University and provide educational and research facilities for students from the practical applications of distributed energy technologies.

(Original source: Energy Storage News New Energy Network Comprehensive)