Eolian closes tax equity financing for 200 MW of storage in Texas

Energy storage investor Eolian LP has successfully closed a tax equity investment of an undisclosed amount in two standalone utility-scale battery storage projects in Texas with a combined capacity of 200 MW.

The portfolio company of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) said on Monday that this first-of-a-kind financing for a standalone utility-scale battery energy storage system uses the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) structure. The tax equity comes from a fund managed by Churchill Stateside Group LLC.

The financing is intended for the Madero and Ignacio projects located on a single site in the city of Mission. Upon completion later this year, they will form the largest fully-merchant battery energy storage system globally, as measured by total deliverable energy. Their purpose is to provide critical grid resiliency to the Rio Grande Valley communities through participation and trading in the liquid energy market managed by ERCOT.

"This energy storage project is the largest of its kind in the world, represents hundreds of millions of dollars in direct investment by private investors, and solves the problem of meeting demand during hours of high uncertainty that require highly dynamic units that can turn on remotely and instantaneously to keep the lights on,” commented Eolian's CEO Aaron Zubaty.

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