Orsted switched on a 250 MW / 500 MWh battery beside a Texas solar farm, and runs it separately from the panels
Old 300 Storage in Needville, Texas reached commercial operation next to the 430 MW Old 300 Solar project, generating since 2024. Tesla Megapacks built in Lathrop, California. The battery is operated independently from the solar plant on the ERCOT grid.
Same fence, same substation area, two different businesses. That is how Orsted runs its new Texas battery beside its solar farm.
pv magazine reported on 6 August 2026 that Orsted's Old 300 Storage project, 250 MW / 500 MWh in Needville, Texas, had reached commercial operation. It sits next to the 430 MW Old 300 Solar project, which has been generating since 2024, but the battery is operated independently from the solar plant.
The battery uses Tesla Megapacks built in Lathrop, California. Orsted says it now has about 6 GW of onshore capacity in operation in the US, and expects the project to pay about $110 million in property taxes.
Analogy: it is a bakery and a cold store sharing a car park. One makes the bread, the other decides when to sell it.
Good: a large, named battery built on a site that already had solar, power lines and permits. Reusing a site is often the fastest path to storage.
Bad: two hours at full power, by our division. That covers a short evening peak, not a whole night.
Ugly: independent operation means the battery trades on its own account. It is not there to firm the solar farm's output for any particular customer.
Source: pv magazine, 6 Aug 2026 - Orsted turns on 500 MWh battery project with co-located solar in Texas.