MLGW to seek bids for battery storage, solar energy plans

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) — Memphis Light Gas and Water going solar?

City-owned Memphis Light Gas and Water is looking to create some of its own energy using the sun.

MLGW President and CEO Doug McGowen told board members and city leaders Wednesday that the utility plans to put out bids to companies to build for 100 megawatts of solar generation and 80 megawatts of utility-scale battery storage, enough solar energy to power more than 110,000 homes.

“This is a change in that we’ll be able to generate some of the electricity, 100 megawatts out of that 3500 that we use,” said MLGW President & CEO Doug McGowen. “It’s a good starting point. And we have not had utility-scale battery storage yet. That’s a relatively new technology. It’s certainly new to us. And that means when energy demand is high, we’ll have a little extra in reserve that we can deploy for two or four hours to help us get through that peak.”

MLGW is seeking bids from companies to build on hundreds of acres of land, either on MLGW-owned property or on land used for solar.

The project has already been budgeted at $120 million, and McGowen says it will not increase customers’ costs.

McGowen also says these plans predate xAI’s presence in Southwest Memphis. At its peak, the supercomputer could use about 150 megawatts of power.

“We actually put money in the budget in 2024 for this long before we had ever heard of xAI,” said McGowen. “So I think we understood at the time, but the growth of the electric demand in this nation and around the world is significant and challenging our ability to keep up.”

MLGW plans to close the bidding process on April 28.

The first phase of the project is expected to be in use by next summer.

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