A Closer Look at Battery Storage Facility Project

Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom is facing lots of questions over his involvement in the proposed battery storage facility in Warda.

McBroom and his family signed an option to lease a portion of property they own in the Warda area back in September 2022. The lease with the company Staccato Storage LLC would be for 15 acres out of a 90 acre tract on Warda Church Rd.

In an interview with the Record on Tuesday, McBroom said he owns the property with his mother, father, brother and their spouses. The family purchased it about 18 years ago, he said.

McBroom said the developers of the Staccato project first approached a neighbor about leasing land, but they were not interested.

“The neighbor told the company to call us,” he said. “That’s how we got involved.”

McBroom said he did not know Staccato was going to seek a tax abatement when he entered into the lease.

“I’m not one asking for abatement,” he said. “I’m trying to stay neutral and not sway it either way.”

Staccato Storage approached the Fayette County Commissioners Court on Oct. 12, 2023, seeking a tax abatement for the development. McBroom first told the Record about the battery storage project in an interview after that meeting. At that time, McBroom announced he was recusing himself from any discussions or votes in Commissioners Court on any items related to the project. He has encouraged anyone with concerns about his relationship with the project to speak with him privately.

McBroom said a portion of the property is also leased to a separate bitcoin mining operation. McBroom said he has no involvement with either business, other than leasing the property.

Properties located next to electric substations have traditionally been difficult to market or develop from a real estate standpoint. Few people want to build homes next to an electric substation. They often remain in agricultural use.

But new technologies like battery storage and cryptocurrency mining are changing the market for those kinds of properties.

“I’ve probably gotten 50 letters from companies because we’re located next to a substation,” McBroom said.

Schulenburg-based Realtor Chip Bubela, who has no relationship with McBroom’s project, said it’s a growing trend.

“With the whole green energy deal, especially with this administration we’ve had, they want zero net emission by 2050,” Bubela said. “They’ve thrown out this lofty goal, and there are lots of subsidies out there to get to that position – carbon credits, wind turbines, solar, you name it, that’s what it’s all about.”

Bubela said he attended a conference two years ago in San Antonio about battery storage facilities.

“They wanted to get in front of the land brokers in Texas because we know the people,” Bubela said. “This is what they are looking for – five to 10 acres next to a substation. Here I am thinking, ‘No one wants to buy land next to a substation.’ But now all of a sudden, that thing is valuable.

“We’re in unprecedented territory,” he added.

Bubela said solar companies also target properties near high voltage electric lines and energy substation.

“Farmers hate them,” Bubela said, since solar companies offer much more money to lease property than farmers can pay while still making a profit on crops.

According to public business filings, Staccato Storage LLC was formerly a subsidiary of Samsung, the South Korea-based semiconductor giant. Staccato Storage is now a subsidiary of Sunraycer Renwables, a U.S. company headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland.

According to the media outlet Korea Economic Daily, Sansung sold 15 solar and battery storage projects in Texas to Sunraycer Renewables in September of last year. The report said six of the projects are solar, with a combined capacity of around 1GW, and nine are battery storage facilities, totaling around 2GW.

Interconnection documents on file with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) list the capacity of the Staccato project at about 202 megawatts. The ERCOT documents describe the Staccato project as a “stand alone” battery storage facility that is not co-located with wind, solar, thermal or other sources of electricity generation.

A group of concerned citizens were set to hold a public meeting about the battery storage facility on Thursday, Aug. 15 at the Warda Church Pavilion. Look for more on that meeting in an upcoming issue of the Record.