A 160MW/320MWh battery begins operating on the Texas ERCOT grid
Now Possible · Friday, 11 September 2026
Why it matters
This is a grid-scale storage asset moving beyond demonstration into operational use, with capacity relevant to peak events and ancillary services rather than just a laboratory claim. It is not directly accessible to ordinary consumers: its benefits arrive indirectly through Texas grid reliability, while deployment still requires wholesale-market access, transmission infrastructure and utility-scale construction.
What happened
SMT Energy and FlexGen have started operations at the Houston IV battery-storage facility in Houston, Texas, adding 160MW of power and 320MWh of storage to the ERCOT wholesale market. The companies said the final commissioning phase took six weeks, but the project itself took about 16 months from its May 2025 groundbreaking and began operations one quarter later than its original Q2 2026 target. The deployment comes as ERCOT recorded a 91.1GW hourly peak during a July heat wave, 6% above its previous record.
Previously
22 Jul 2026 — ERCOT recorded a 91.1GW hourly peak load during a heat wave, 6% above the previous 85.5GW record set on 10 August 2023.(US Energy Information Administration)
May 2025 — SMT Energy and CenterPoint Energy broke ground on the Houston IV 160MW/320MWh battery-storage project in Houston, Texas.(Energy-Storage.News)
Players & places
- United States
- Houston
- SMT Energy
- FlexGen
- ERCOT
- CenterPoint Energy