Prologis’ first battery storage project in Texas was unveiled Friday morning, marking a major milestone in the private sector’s contribution to reducing strain on the state’s power grid.
The 10-megawatt battery storage facility is housed on the site of one of Prologis’ owner-occupied warehouses at 3601 Allen Ave. in Arlington. Two additional projects in Houston and Grand Prairie are scheduled to follow in the coming months, with a total of 10 sites deployed over a year.
The goal of the project is to capture and dispatch additional power during peak demand periods, effectively supplementing energy already provided by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The battery storage site in Arlington is designed to power 1,700 homes, Vibhu Kaushik, Prologis global head of energy, utilities and storage, said during an event Friday.
“Projects like these are essential to helping the state of Texas’ grid,” he said. “They pair really well with other resources like wind, solar, natural gas and combined cycles.”
Energy demand in Texas is quickly outpacing supply, as a rise in severe weather is occurring alongside record population and corporate growth. Houston and Dallas were ravaged by extreme rain and wind last month, causing widespread power outages as temperatures climbed into the 80s and 90s.
“When demand is threatening to outpace supply in the grid, the electricity from these batteries … is what will keep our grid in balance and keep the lights on,” state Rep. Chris Turner said at the Prologis event. “That’s why this project is so important.”
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Dallas-Fort Worth is also a top market for data centers, which are quickly becoming one of the biggest contributors to growing power demand in the state.
The grid’s capacity may need to double to 150 gigawatts by 2030 to meet that demand, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas said during a committee hearing last week, up from the previous expectation of 130 GW.
“[Data centers] are asking for buildings with a lot more power connections than before,” Kaushik said. “If you have on-site solar or on-site battery storage, it provides some local energy to offset a lot of energy coming from the grid.”
Prologis isn't the only company contributing to increased energy storage in Texas. Developers are expected to install 6.5 GW of utility-scale batteries in 2024, bringing the total installed capacity to around 10 GW, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration data reported by Reuters.
Nationwide, more than 300 utility-scale projects are expected to be operational by 2025. Around half will be in Texas.
“It’s no big secret: We know Texas is growing, and the demand on our grid is increasing with that growth,” Turner said. “When you see projects like this coming online, it gives us hope that we’re going to be able to achieve that goal. Every megawatt is going to count.”
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