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HARLINGEN — A back-up energy source to the city’s electric grid is coming to the city’s fast-growing west side.
Developers are planning to build a four-acre battery storage site generating 10 megawatts of power off Tucker Road and Lincoln Avenue near a residential area and retail center.
The battery storage site is one of 10 such projects SMT Energy has proposed across the Rio Grande Valley in communities including Santa Rosa and Ed Couch, Nick Consiglio, chairman of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission, said Tuesday.
Last week, city commissioners unanimously agreed to grant the Colorado-based company a special use permit to develop the site in the area zoned for homes and retail business.
As part of the project, the company plans to install three 20-foot shipping containers with crystallized lithium-ion batteries at the site.
David Spotts, the company’s co-founder, compared the project to an “electrical substation,” adding the batteries would not be electrolyte-filled
The unmanned site will generate enough energy to power as many as 1,000 homes for up to an hour, he told Planning and Zoning commissioners.
Spotts said the battery storage site, which would follow federal standards, would pose “extremely low” fire and thermal runaway risk, or cases in which batteries overheat, adding “there are multiple redundant on-site emergency fire suppression systems.”
During meetings, he told officials the company was proposing 10 battery storage sites in the Valley, generating 12 gigawatts of energy to help back-up the electric grid.
Calming residents’ safety concerns
Last week, Commissioner Rene Perez, who oversees District 5, said he met with two residents, calming their safety concerns.
Meanwhile, Linda Nguyen, a retired nurse whose hay field lies 200 feet from the project site, said she met with Spotts.
“I did a lot of research,” Nguyen, who lives off Bothwell Road, said. “All the concerns I had, he addressed them. I looked at his plans to see if they met the new standards and recommendations for safety. He showed me safety features and back-up features. I believe he’s going to do a good job.”
The company plans to install a six-foot opaque fence and landscaping around the project site, city records state.
