ANGLETON, Texas – (Realty News Report) – A Tesla subsidiary, called Gambit Energy Storage, is constructing a massive utility-scale battery operation that will be connected to the much-maligned Texas electric grid, according to news reports.
The 100 megawatt energy storage project could power 20,000 homes on a summer day, according to a report by Bloomberg News.
The project, expected to be complete this year, will be able to discharge power into the electric grid at the Texas New Mexico Power Company’s Angleton Substation at W. Locust and N. Walker Street.
The Texas power grid narrowly survived a fiasco when extreme cold hit the state last month, causing widespread utility failures
Tesla leader Elon Musk criticized the state’s Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) at the time, commenting that the organization was “Not earning the ‘R’” (reliability). Amid the controversy, ERCOT CEO Bill Magness, who earned $800,000 a year, was terminated last week. The Texas blackouts reportedly impacted Tesla’s facilities in Texas.
Elon Musk has an expanding presence in Texas. Telsa is constructing Tesla Gigafactory, a 4 million SF vehicle manufacturing facility in east Austin where 5,000 people will be employed. Musk also selected Texas for his SpaceX outer space flight organization. And Musk, ranked as one of the richest billionaires in the world, recently moved his personal residence to Texas from California.
The Angleton battery facility is located about 40 miles south of Houston on a site that is west of Highway 288, off of Murray Ranch Road
Called the “Gambit Energy Storage Park” the Angleton battery facility would store power when energy prices are low and discharge electricity into the system when the grid has a shortage of power.
Storing electric power on a large scale has been one of the challenges facing the transition from fossil fuel to renewable energy.
March 8, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
File: Massive Battery Facility Under Construction by Elon Musk Firm Near Houston
File: (2) Gambit Energy Storage. Massive Battery Facility Under Construction by Elon Musk Firm Near Houston. Angleton. SpaceX.