Chris Schein of Oncor stood with one of the company's new batteries at Oncor's
Environment System Operating Services Facility near Lancaster on June 12, 2014.
Texas a Testing Ground for Energy Storage
by Jim Malewitz
The Texas Tribune
LANCASTER — No one at the equipment lot here would blame you for failing to notice the drab green box sitting across from the spare transformers. But the lithium ions inside that refrigerator-size container are part of a wave of energy storage technology that could help Texas revolutionize its electric grid.
Oncor, the state’s largest transmission company, is installing five of the batteries this summer in South Dallas neighborhoods, providing backup power to schools, traffic lights and a fire station. With the capacity to each store 50 kilowatt-hours of energy — enough to power three to five houses for three hours — the batteries are designed to kick in when the electricity trips off, whether because of a falling branch or equipment issues.
“We want to see what they do,” said Don Clevenger, Oncor’s senior vice president of strategic planning. “This stuff works, it’s just, is it going to work in the real world?”
The project’s $500,000 cost is an afterthought for the multibillion-dollar company, but it is part of a larger trend of investment in what the industry has long considered its holy grail: a backup source of low-carbon energy from intermittent sources like wind and the sun.
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