Enchanted Rock, provider of electrical resiliency Microgrids, has been selected by the West Harris County Regional Water Authority (WHCRWA) to provide the company’s integrated Resiliency on Call (iROC) service for two critical water pump stations that serve the WHCRWA’s 127 water districts. The stations will also provide water to the North Fort Bend Water Authority, who is a partner in these facilities. The WHCRWA exists to identify and secure a long-term supply of quality drinking water, promote water conservation and facilitate compliance with groundwater reduction strategies and mandates.
Enchanted Rock’s iROC service will ensure the availability of clean drinking water for people across Harris County, which includes water supply to hospitals, senior living facilities, businesses and residential areas. Enchanted Rock will provide a total of almost 20 MW of clean backup support powered by natural gas for the WHCRWA Central and Repump Stations.
By operating and maintaining the system, Enchanted Rock will provide the WHCRWA with reliability at an affordable price. The unique iROC model allows the WHCRWA to receive full-facility resiliency at a fraction of the cost of a standard reliability system. Additionally, the natural gas-powered microgrid will be up to one hundred times cleaner than alternatives powered by diesel.
“We are honored that the West Harris County Regional Water Authority selected Enchanted Rock for these important projects, which marks a continued expansion supporting essential utilities,” said Allan Schurr, Chief Commercial Officer of Enchanted Rock. “This partnership will help ensure safe drinking water for residents and businesses across Harris County during outages, which occur frequently in this storm-prone region.”
The WHCRWA selected Enchanted Rock based on their years of experience providing electrical resiliency solutions to water utilities during outages due to events such as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. In addition, Enchanted Rock has over 10 years of operational data and system analytics from working with water utilities and other customers that will inform the design and the optimized operations and maintenance for the WHCRWA projects. Enchanted Rock currently has over 135 MW of capacity either commissioned or under construction at water facilities.
“Given Enchanted Rock’s national expertise and track record serving water utilities, we are pleased to partner with this industry-leading resiliency company,” said Eric Hansen, WHCRWA Board President. “Enchanted Rock will provide WHCRWA with the most affordable solution that meets our sustainability goals without sacrificing reliability and continuity of water services for our residents and area businesses in the event of an outage.”
Enchanted Rock will also provide critical support for the City of Houston Northeast Water Purification Plant Expansion facility. The previously announced project is expected to be completed in 2024, and will provide electrical backup for 50% of the required finished water production capacity.
Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Enchanted Rock delivers electrical resiliency-as-a-service with natural gas microgrids that exceed the strictest emission requirements. This includes a renewable natural gas (RNG) fuel option, which reduces the carbon equivalent emissions to zero or negative for backup power microgrid solutions, depending on the source of RNG.
