

By David Taylor / Managing Editor
Treaty Oak Clean Energy (TOCE) with offices in Austin, Texas has announced their intentions to build a Catamount Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) on a 50-acre lot east of Crosby proper with construction to begin in Q3 of 2027.
In a meeting last week with Crosby-Huffman Chamber of Commerce leadership and county officials, TOCE leaders explained the project and took questions and listened to concerns.
“We would like to begin construction in Q3 of 2027 with an estimated goal of becoming operable by Q4 of 2028,” said Pierre DuBois, community relations representative from TOCE.
Treaty Oak is a relatively new company (2021) with satellite offices in Birmingham, Atlanta, and Denver.
“We develop solar and battery storage across five states—Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Georgia,” DuBois said. “In Texas, we only do battery storage at the moment.”
With 75 employees, he said they have a mandate to grow the company as quickly as possible by developing the projects and then operating them for years to come.
“In our industry, there are companies that are called develop and flip shops, which will develop a project to a certain point, and then sell it. You never hear from them again. We’re what’s called an IPP, or an independent power producer. We want to greenfield develop these projects, build them, operate them, and be in the community for the next 35 to 40 years,” DuBois said.
Austin Green, who has 15 years in the wind, solar, and storage industry, said this was a patient capital investment, or long-term project in the community.
“The money ain’t running out! We’re going to build these things,” DuBois said.
The end goal is to build two projects—one close to Bohemian Hall Road and potentially another southeast of Barrett Station.
Both will fall within Crosby ISD, while one project is within the boundaries of Harris County ESD 80 and the other encompasses both ESD 5 and 80.
“All of these will see significantly increased property tax revenue including the county entities,” DuBois said.
He said they didn’t have plans to immediately build out the entire 50 acres but would use approximately 18-20 acres.
DuBois said during Winter Storm Uri, there was only 200 megawatts of batteries on the entire grid.
There are now 10,000 megawatts of battery on the ERCOT grid.
“If the demand for power goes above the generating capacity, those batteries fill the gap, and that’s why no one lost power (during the recent cold snaps). So these are really important for grid stability and reliability as transmission and generation tries to catch up with the growing demand in our state,” DuBois said.
There are no jobs provided by the installation as they will be operated remotely.
“We will locally source materials and labor whenever possible providing a boost to small businesses and the local economy,” DuBois said.
When the power is sold to the ERCOT grid, DuBois said it doesn’t necessarily mean it will power Crosby or any other local agency.
“At this point, we have three to four projects plus in this region. Will they all make it? No, they’re not going to make it. That’s partly why we’re here today, is to just get feedback, kind of get the local opinion, and then we’ll be engaging with other stakeholders, other owners that are going to be directly, potentially impacted by this facility, and we’ll always be here and do the best we can,” Green said.
The batteries come in 20-foot containers. Every container has a robust thermal management system with HVAC and heaters for winter and summer temps.
Even if the HVAC is out and the temps outside reach 120-degrees, it’s not even close enough to induce a thermal event, besides, we will have professionals like RC Air Conditioning in place if an emergency comes up.
Flood waters were another concern from the stakeholders present.
“We do hydrological studies to determine the flood potential. If there’s any flood concern, you either see no batteries there, or they’ll need to be lifted up to the 500-year flood potential,” Green said.
The facility will have security and fencing surrounding it.
Green said he is currently searching for any fatal flaws that would prevent the project from proceeding and is in the environmental stage.
To learn more about Treaty Oak Clean Energy, visit their website at www.treatyoakcleanenergy.com.
This is nothing but an eyesore with no benefit to the residents. There’s plenty of land east of Crosby that doesn’t have a neighborhood directly connecting with the battery energy storage facility. Fact of the matter is that there’s a fire and chemical risk to the neighbors that is unnecessary and unwanted. Time to act now Crosby.