300 MW of battery storage is now operating at Nightpeak Energy’s Bocanova site in Brazoria County, Texas, after the 150 MW second phase reached commercial operation on 17 September 2026. The developer announced the financial close and commercial operation on 13 October, and said the project doubles the site’s capacity at a time when data centers and other large loads are driving rapid growth in demand on the ERCOT grid.
150 MW and two hours, on line since 17 September
Bocanova 2 is a 150 MW project with a two hour duration, which gives it 300 MWh of storage. It sits near the Houston metropolitan area, in one of the fastest growing electricity load centers in the country according to the developer. It operates under a long term offtake agreement with an investment grade counterparty and was financed through a tax equity bridge loan and a construction to term loan, with traditional tax equity alongside. The announcement describes the structure but gives no amounts.
The announcement came 26 days after the project began commercial operation, so the plant was already operating when the financing and the milestone were disclosed together. Nightpeak thanked the City of Alvin, Brazoria County and the local community for their support.
Thirteen months between phases
The first 150 MW phase, Bocanova 1, began commercial operation in August 2025. The second began on 17 September 2026, 13 months later, which is the interval in which the developer finished the second phase on the same site and brought the total to 300 MW. Building the second phase on the same site as the first is the pattern the developer chose. The announcement does not state the duration of Bocanova 1, so the site’s total energy capacity is not given. If the first phase also had two hours, the site would hold 600 MWh, but that is an assumption, not a published figure.
Why Texas is where this fits
Chief executive Paris Hays said large loads are arriving at a pace and scale that is changing how the power sector plans for new demand, and that meeting it needs new infrastructure as well as resources that can respond quickly as conditions change. Batteries can change output within moments, which is the kind of flexibility the statement describes. A recent study of dispatch data found that battery operation on ERCOT follows prices less tightly than on California’s grid, at a daily r² of 0.73 against 0.88 against day-ahead prices in 2024, and read that as a sign of a younger battery market, and a 300 MW site adds to the fleet that study described as still developing. The analysis is in the account of the CAISO and ERCOT study.
A developer that mixes technologies
Nightpeak describes itself as a technology agnostic developer, owner and operator of flexible power generation and large load enablement assets, and combines generation and load into integrated solutions for customers. It is a portfolio investment of Energy Spectrum Partners VIII, an infrastructure focused private equity fund based in Dallas. Bocanova is the second phase of its battery storage development in Brazoria County, which makes it the clearest example in the announcement of the company building storage alongside the large load growth it is pitched at.
What the announcement leaves for later
Nightpeak was founded in 2022 and says it has developed and acquired a portfolio of over 1 GW of operating and de-risked capacity across gas fired generation, battery storage and powered land development, with a further pipeline of flexible generation and large load projects. The announcement does not name the offtaker, give the contract term or price, or state the project’s cost. Those details would show how storage is being contracted in ERCOT’s load growth, and they are the next figures to look for as the developer advances its pipeline. The dated facts are in place: operation since 17 September 2026, a first phase since August 2025, and a site total of 300 MW. Source: Nightpeak Energy announcement of 13 October 2026.
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