Tucson Electric Power to build 800MWh battery storage system

Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is to build a 200MW / 800MWh battery energy storage system in southeast Tucson, Arizona.

The Roadrunner Reserve system will be the largest energy storage system in TEP’s portfolio and among the largest in Arizona. The system will store enough energy to serve approximately 42,000 homes for four hours when deployed at full capacity. 

The system is scheduled to begin operation in summer 2025.

TEP expects to charge the grid-connected battery in the morning and early afternoon, when solar resources are most productive, then deliver stored energy later in the day when customers’ energy use is typically highest.  The system will be built next to a southeast-side TEP substation.

TEP will own and operate Roadrunner Reserve, which will be designed and built by Scottsdale-based DEPCOM Power, Inc. The new system will use lithium-ion phosphate battery units.

Susan Gray, TEP’s president and CEO, said: “Roadrunner Reserve will help us maintain reliability as we ambitiously but responsibly expand our community’s renewable resources. This new system will be particularly important in helping us satisfy peak energy needs during the summer.”