Byrd Ranch Project Will Deploy Advanced Optimization Capabilities Enabled by Artificial Intelligence
HOUSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GlidePath Power Solutions LLC (“GlidePath”), today announced it has completed design, equipment procurement, financing and begun construction of the 50 MW Byrd Ranch Storage Project (”Byrd Ranch”) in Sweeny, TX. Byrd Ranch is expected to be completed this summer so that it can provide critical grid support to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) during periods of expected grid stress and volatility.
The Byrd Ranch Storage Project is ideally located approximately 60 miles south of the city of Houston, enhancing local grid resilience in the greater Houston region. Byrd Ranch will employ the very latest in battery storage technology, safety and control systems and will be owned and managed by GlidePath following completion of construction.
Byrd Ranch will optimize power delivery and reliability through AI-driven algorithms that are being developed specifically to meet the unique requirements and opportunities prevailing in the ERCOT market. Byrd Ranch will have the ability to participate in multiple services markets and revenue streams and provide instant support to ERCOT as it manages greater volatility through weather-related shifts in electric generation and demand. The experience gained by GlidePath from Byrd Ranch operations will inform the planned deployment of GlidePath’s algorithmic tools across its rapidly growing U.S. storage portfolio.
The project has a footprint of 2.5 acres. Initial estimates found that Byrd Ranch could generate $500,000 per year in property taxes that would support local schools and services. By working collaboratively with its landowner partners as well as local, county, and state officials, GlidePath designed Byrd Ranch specifically to minimize sound and visual impacts to the community while identifying and protecting sensitive species and local habitat. GlidePath also worked with multiple stakeholders to incorporate additional resiliency measures that will better protect the facility from extreme weather events including severe flooding such as that experienced with Hurricane Harvey. These added protection measures will help ensure that Byrd Ranch is able to operate and perform reliably when the community needs it most.
“We’re proud to break ground on our latest contribution to addressing the Texas power grid’s reliability challenges. Byrd Ranch is one of more than 70 innovative standalone storage and solar-plus-storage projects in GlidePath’s 12 GWh development inventory located across 20 U.S. states,” said Chris McKissack, CEO of GlidePath. “Our team has been developing energy storage projects since 2013 and understands the full lifecycle of development, construction and operations of these critical facilities. This expertise allows us to not only deliver robust financial results for our investors but, more importantly, to deploy technologically advanced, safe and reliable projects which add real value to our host communities.”
About GlidePath
GlidePath Power Solutions is a leading developer of distributed power solutions spanning multiple technologies and U.S. power markets. Led by a team of power industry veterans, GlidePath has successfully developed multiple battery storage projects in the U.S. and is actively advancing a multi- technology project development portfolio exceeding 12 GWh of planned distributed power capacity. Chicago-based GlidePath is a portfolio company of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, a specialist investor in renewables, storage and grid support infrastructure. For more information, visit www.glidepath.net.
About Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners
Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners (http://www.quinbrook.com) is a specialist investment manager focused exclusively on renewables, storage and grid support infrastructure and operational asset management in the US, UK, and Australia. Quinbrook is led and managed by a senior team of power industry professionals who have collectively invested c.USD 8.2 billion equity in energy infrastructure assets since the early 1990s, representing a total enterprise value of c.USD 28.7 billion or 19.5 GW of power supply capacity. Quinbrook has completed a diverse range of direct investments in both utility and distributed scale onshore wind and solar power, battery storage, reserve peaking capacity, biomass, fugitive methane recovery, hydro and flexible energy management solutions in the US, UK, and Australia.
Contacts
Peter Gray, Aileron Communications
312-883-5044, [email protected]
If you enjoyed this article and want to receive more valuable industry content like this, click here to sign up for our digital newsletters!
