Alevo Group, a Swiss energy storage company, is partnering with Nevada-based Ormat Technologies Inc. and Georgetown Utility Systems, Georgetown’s publicly owned electric utility, to add the storage facility to the city’s electric grid. The project will be located at the Rabbit Hill Energy Storage Project facility in Georgetown, just north of Austin in Williamson County.
The project will take the form of Alevo Group’s Gridbank energy storage system, which uses racks of lithium ion batteries inside climate-controlled shipping containers to store energy generated during the day by wind or solar electricity sources for use later on when demand might peak. Georgetown gets almost all of its energy from renewable sources as part of a contract with EDF Renewable Energy, signed in 2015.
Alevo and Ormat will own and operate the facility jointly, with Ormat providing construction services and plant equipment while Alevo will provide operations, maintenance and management services.
According to energy industry news outlet UtilityDive, the project is a big milestone for Ormat. The company, which has historically focused on geothermal energy production, is trying to establish a foothold in the emerging energy storage market.