A California-based energy company is planning to invest $1.15 billion south of Austin, Texas, over nine years to build and maintain two power plants that will combine solar generation and battery storage.
Chem-Energy Corp. says it will hire a minimum of 400 full-time employees within the first year of its business operations, at an average salary of $53,200 annually, according to a taxpayer-funded incentive agreement approved by Caldwell County.
Economic development officials in the multi-county area stretching south roughly from Austin to San Antonio along Interstate 35 -- which they have dubbed the Texas Innovation Corridor -- heralded the deal as the area's largest by dollar amount in its history.
"This is a seismic development for our region which will establish several new opportunities in our community," Caldwell County's County Judge Hoppy Haden said in a written statement.
Under the county's incentive agreement, Chem-Energy will get rebates on its property taxes totaling up to $27.2 million over the nine-year term. Even with the rebates, however, officials said the two projects are expected to increase Caldwell County's net revenue by a total of $22.4 million over the next decade.
The first power plant will be built on 3,518 acres in Caldwell Valley Ranch near Uhland, with construction starting next spring and the facility operational in 2023, according to Chem-Energy. The second plant will be near Martindale, east of San Marcos, with construction expected to start once the initial plant is finished.
Executives of Chem-Energy -- which trades petroleum products, refines crude oil and develops energy-related projects -- said the company also has plans for additional power plants across Central Texas.
"Caldwell County is the perfect strategic choice for our flagship operations in Texas," said Robert Hayward, Chem-Energy's chief operating officer. "With available land in a growing region, close proximity to Texas State University and a robust workforce pipeline, the Texas Innovation Corridor provides an ideal environment for our organization's growth."
The company said the two Caldwell County plants will sell electricity on the state's deregulated power grid, operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, as well as to regional electricity providers.
The combination of renewable energy, such as solar power, and battery storage is viewed as one of the keys to bolstering the council's grid as renewable energy sources continue to grow as a proportion of overall generation.
That's because some renewable sources are intermittent, with solar generation falling off at night or when skies are cloudy, for instance, and wind generation lagging on calm days. Batteries are a means of keeping stored energy from intermittent renewable sources flowing during those periods.
Tesla -- known primarily for its electric cars and the big vehicle manufacturing plant that it's building in Travis County -- is among the companies aiming to combine solar generation with batteries on the ERCOT grid.
A Tesla subsidiary, called Tesla Energy Ventures, recently won approval to sell electricity to retail customers in the state, although not in areas such as Austin that are served by municipal providers or some co-ops.
Tesla already is working to build solar and alternatively powered homes using Tesla technology in Austin, however, a project called SunHouse at Easton Park, in partnership with Brookfield Asset Management and real estate developer Dacra. The project will be Tesla's first solar neighborhood, powered by solar rooftop and battery products made by Tesla Energy.
Chem-Energy executives said their initial Caldwell County plant will feature a combined total of 600 megawatt/1,200 megawatt-hours in battery storage and 1 gigawatt of solar power generation over 10 years. One megawatt is enough to power about 200 homes on a summer day.