Benton County project set to boost Arkansas grid stability

A $130 million battery energy storage development is planned for southern Benton County, and the 250-megawatt project is expected to bolster grid stability as more renewable energy projects come online.

Within the footprint of Little Rock-based regional transmission organization Southwest Power Pool (SPP), Boulder, Colo.-based SMT Energy is expected to build and operate the battery energy storage system on more than 40 acres about 10 miles southeast of Siloam Springs. It’s planned to be interconnected to the grid at an adjacent electric substation on Chamber Springs Road, just south of Arkansas Highway 16.

John Switzer and David Spotts, co-founders of SMT Energy, have 10 battery systems in operation, and the company’s largest will be a 304-megawatt project it’s developing in Texas. The system on Chamber Springs Road will be SMT Energy’s first in Arkansas and its largest in SPP’s footprint, which spans 14 states, including Arkansas.

“At our core…we work in data science, and we’ve identified an opportunity at the Chamber Springs substation to support the grid with real-time operations…and provide a mixture of different services and benefits to SPP to improve reliability and grid stability,” Spotts said. “The power will be called upon by Southwest Power Pool and dispatched as needed to support the grid.”

Construction of the battery system is expected to start in 2026 and take about a year to complete. The battery is anticipated to begin operating in 2027.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. battery energy storage capacity has risen since 2021 and reached about 16 gigawatts at the end of 2023. It might increase by 89% to nearly 31 gigawatts by the end of this year if developers’ planned projects are completed on schedule. Developers have another 9 gigawatts in the works for 2025. About half of the more than 300 utility-scale battery projects set to start operating in the United States by 2025 are planned for Texas.

As of November, California had the most battery storage capacity, at 7.3 gigawatts, and the largest U.S. battery system, at 750 megawatts. Vistra owns that system. Texas was second with 3.16 gigawatts.

According to December EIA data, Arkansas has three battery systems in operation: two 6-megawatt systems in Washington County and one 10-megawatt system in White County. The latter is part of the Searcy Solar Energy Center that started operating in 2022. The Entergy Arkansas project was among the first utility-scale solar farms to include battery storage. Today’s Power Inc. installed the two systems in Washington County that began operating in 2019 as part of a 10-megawatt solar array project for the city of Fayetteville. At the time, it was the largest array built on city-owned land in Arkansas and the only one in the state with on-site utility-scale storage.

REDUCE BLACKOUTS
In December, the Benton County Planning Board approved SMT Energy’s project on Chamber Springs Road after denying a 100-megawatt battery project proposed for 22 acres on Bethlehem Road, west of Centerton. SMT is no longer pursuing the project at that site.

In the meeting, SMT Energy officials explained that battery systems can help mitigate rolling blackouts, such as those experienced in the South during a severe winter storm in February 2021.

“In the event of scarcity, which means, ‘Hey, there’s not enough power to go around,’ these batteries kind of act as a conduit to prevent these sorts of events from happening,” Switzer said. “The more of these batteries you get onto the grid, the more ability the grid has to be stable.”

The battery energy can be available to SPP when electricity demand exceeds supply. Also, the batteries can be charged when electricity is less expensive and used when it’s more expensive.

“This battery is a four-hour battery, and once in service, would be possible to help serve generation for that period of time,” said Meghan Sever, senior communication strategist for SPP. “We have only one other battery in service in the SPP footprint, and it is much smaller.”

The battery project was part of the generation interconnection (GI) queue cluster for 2023, and a generation interconnection agreement has yet to be reached, Sever said. “There are a few batteries of this size in the SPP GI queue, which are the largest we’ve seen.”

SMT Energy officials told the board the project on Chamber Springs Road is expected to generate $12 million in tax dollars over 20 years, with 60% of it coming upfront. It’s bringing 60 construction jobs. About 10 jobs are needed for its operations. The battery system has a 30-year life cycle.

SAFETY CONCERNS
Still, some board members and neighbors were concerned about public safety.

Gary Yarno, fire marshal and director of fire services and building safety for Benton County, said his office met with officials of Gallatin and Siloam Springs fire departments to discuss fire protection concerns about the project.

“To meet the requirements of the Benton County Fire Marshal’s office, SMT will be submitting a revised site plan showing improved fire department access and on-site water supply that complies with the Arkansas Fire Prevention Code,” Yarno said. “So far, SMT has shown good faith in their intentions and communication efforts.”

Also, as part of the planning board’s 4-2 project approval, SMT Energy must build a berm around the battery system.

TOP PRIORITY
“Our priority is safety,” Spotts said in a recent interview. “The first thing we’re doing is utilizing lithium iron phosphate, which is the safest type of chemistry when you look at the different spectrum of lithium iron/lithium-ion battery availability. We also own and operate our fleets, so this would be one of the projects that we not only build but also own and operate. To address safety concerns, the project is monitored in real-time by two 24/7 real-time operations centers.”

Spotts said some monitored data includes voltage, capacity, temperature and system functionality. That will ensure that the battery will be available when it needs to be made available and operating safely.

Switzer said SMT Energy works with multiple partners to complete its battery projects. North Carolina-based FlexGen, for example, helps with project procurement, battery commissioning and operations via long-term service agreements. FlexGen will be one of the two companies monitoring this system. The other company has yet to be determined.

“It takes a team to build these things, and we’re building out that internal capability for this specific project,” Switzer said. “FlexGen is one we’re definitely planning to work with.”

While this will be SMT Energy’s first battery system in Arkansas, it might not be the last.

“We’re very active in SPP,” Switzer said. “Arkansas is an area where we would like to do more. We are right now in the middle of honing in on exactly where. We’re actively working on other projects but not ready to go public with it just yet.”