SUSI Partners, through the SUSI Energy Transition Fund (“SETF”), and joint venture partner SMT Energy (“SMT”) have agreed to significantly grow their Texas BESS portfolio, adding ten projects with a combined capacity of 100 MW to a fully operational 100 MW portfolio. The projects are primarily located around the cities of Dallas and Houston, thus complementing the existing assets, which are concentrated in Southern Texas, and creating a more sizeable and geographically diversified state-wide BESS portfolio.
SUSI and SMT started their joint venture in the summer of 2022, with the partnership constructing, commissioning, and operating a 100 MW South Texas BESS portfolio since. The recently agreed expansion of the partnership comes on the back of recent successes, with the seed portfolio entering commercial operations, and the two parties securing tax equity for said portfolio. All additional assets are expected to start construction in early 2024 with commercial operations expected to commence between late 2024 and the first half of 2025.
The Texas ERCOT electricity market in recent times experienced record-high load levels amid extreme summer temperatures and continuous population and economic growth – all trends that are not expected to subside and will continue to drive elevated volatility. With intermittent renewable energy generation playing an increasingly important role in meeting energy demand in the state, and the ageing thermal generation fleet increasingly prone to production disruptions, BESS have emerged as one of the most cost-effective dispatchable generation solutions in dealing with spiking power demand and electricity prices.
For SUSI, the agreement with SMT marks the third partnership expansion through SETF announced within a month, underlining the firm’s ability to access attractive investment opportunities on a recurring, exclusive basis. Today, SETF holds a well-diversified portfolio across a wide spectrum of energy transition themes, including clean energy generation, energy efficiency, battery energy storage, customer energy solutions, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
