BP Wind Energy, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Rolling Thunder I Power Partners LLC, has signed a purchase agreement to install a high-storage battery at its Titan 1 Wind Farm in South Dakota. The project is the first of its kind in BP’s US-operated wind business and a potential step forward in the performance and reliability of wind energy.

The 212 kW / 840 kWh battery, supplied by Tesla, will be integrated with the wind farm and configured to help manage internal electricity demands of turbines when wind isn’t blowing. By doing so, it will enable the wind farm to store electricity when the site is generating it, and then have that electricity available to be consumed whenever needed.

Situated on 7,500 acres in Hand County, Titan 1 Wind Farm is wholly owned and operated by BP Wind Energy. The farm has 10 turbines with the capacity to generate 25 MW of wind energy—enough to power about 6,700 average homes annually.

The battery storage project is expected to launch at the site during the second half of 2018. Lessons from the project will enable BP to make better informed decisions when evaluating and developing battery applications in the future.

The project also supports BP’s broader strategy to invest half a billion dollars annually into low-carbon technologies, including projects within its established renewables portfolio as well as in new low-carbon businesses. Specifically, BP will focus on five areas: advanced mobility; bio and low-carbon products; carbon management; power and storage; and digital.

Renewables are the fastest growing form of energy and account for around 4% of global energy demand today. BP estimates that by 2035 the share of renewables could grow to more than 10%—a rate of growth not seen in recent history.

BP is a global producer of oil and gas with operations in 70 countries. BP has a larger economic footprint in the US than in any other nation, and it has invested more than $100 billion in the US since 2005.

BP also has one of the largest operated renewable energy businesses of any major international oil and gas company. In the United States, BP directly operates 13 wind farms—in Colorado, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Texas—while holding an interest in a separate wind facility in Hawaii.

The company’s US wind farms have a gross generating capacity of 2,259 MW—enough electricity to power all the homes in a city the size of Philadelphia.