Panelists: batteries strengthen reliability but financing remains the hurdle

SAN ANGELO, Texas — On a San Angelo panel about emerging energy opportunities, developers and utility officials said battery storage has moved from a novelty to an operational tool but remains difficult to finance because revenues are intermittent and hard to predict.

"Battery storage is an interesting animal," said Kevin Parzic, senior vice president for development at Doral Renewables. "The difficulty is monetizing the revenue to offset the installation costs," he said, describing storage as more of a network component than a predictable generation asset.

Faith Tyler of Apex said Apex has commercialized co‑located battery systems and deployed storage that proved valuable during Winter Storm Fern. She said co‑location with solar is currently easier to monetize because the paired generation establishes more predictable charging and discharging behaviors; standalone storage requires high grid volatility or ancillary services markets to justify investment.

Fred Guerrero of AEP Texas said batteries helped avoid load shedding during winter events and that storage is complementary to intermittent renewables. Panelists noted technical improvements — longer-duration systems and better manufacturing — but agreed the market mechanisms and clear revenue streams (arbitrage, capacity payments, and reliability services) need to mature for financing to scale.

Panelists pointed to examples of two‑hour and four‑hour systems and predicted longer‑duration solutions will become more common as technology and market structures evolve. They said policymakers, grid operators and market participants will need to create clearer incentives if storage is to play its full stabilizing role on the ERCOT grid.

The session included no formal decisions; panelists encouraged continued coordination among developers, regulators and utilities to refine market signals for storage.