Corre Energy, a developer and operator of underground energy storage solutions, signed an agreement through its North American subsidiary, Corre Energy US Development Company, to acquire a 280 MW/ 4.2 GWh energy storage project from Contour Energy, an energy storage project developer. Following the completion of due diligence, the buyout transaction is expected to close before the end of this year.
The project is located in the West Texas region of ERCOT, and the utility-scale storage project will be capable of continuously discharging 280 MW of electrical power for up to 15 hours, equating to 4.2 GWh of fully dispatchable electric energy storage capacity. The project is targeted to achieve the financial investment decision stage in 2025 ahead of full commercial operation.
Chief Executive Officer of Corre Energy, Keith McGrane, said: “We’re extremely pleased to see our North American operation get off to such a strong start. We’re especially excited that our North American subsidiary’s flagship project is in Texas, considered by many analysts to be the most economically attractive market for utility-scale energy storage in North America.”
The project will be based on compressed air energy storage technology, which utilizes renewable energy to compress air into underground salt caverns when the electricity demand is low and wholesale electricity prices are cheap. Electricity is then released to the grid when wholesale electricity demand and prices are higher.
“We’ve reached a pivotal moment in the earth’s climate crisis. Now is the time to deliver impact and invest in long-duration energy storage. CAES is a proven storage technology that can time shift electricity on a bulk basis for very long periods at a fraction of the cost of other commercial energy storage technologies,” McGrane added.
According to Mercom’s 1H and Q2 2023 Energy Storage and Smart Grid Report, there were seven Energy Storage Project M&A transactions in Q2 2023.
Sustainable infrastructure investor Greenbacker Capital Management (GCM) recently acquired a 30-MW/120-MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Imperial County, California, from solar and storage developer SunCode.
