ERCOT Storage Performance | H1 2026

The first six months of 2026 asked ERCOT storage operators to trade at a new pace. RTC+B added five new Real-Time Ancillary Service products to bid every five minutes. Co-optimizing Energy and Ancillary Services (AS)at that speed is difficult. However, for the most part, the fleet stepped up to the plate. While revenue was down compared to H1 2025 (-24% for the median earning asset and -22% on average for the top 20 earning assets), performance was up (+5% for the median performer, +2% for the top 20). All-in-all, this indicates that revenue opportunity was down, but the fleet did a slightly better (albeit similar) job capturing it.

The top performing ERCOT asset in 2026 captured 20% more DA TBx value than 2025’s top performer. The growing spread between top performers and the ERCOT median underscores how challenging this market is for most. While a few have the tools to excel, many have room for improvement. 

We unpack this more below.

RT Energy accounted for the majority of revenue across the fleet in these six months. However, top earners differentiated by layering on DA Energy when the premiums were high. The top 20 revenue generators leaned into DA Energy more than the rest of the fleet, capturing 12% of their revenue versus just 3% fleet-wide.

That gap traced back to Winter Storm Fern. The top earners sat at higher-priced nodes than the rest of the fleet, and they had the conviction to bid into DA prices during the storm and capture them.

• Highest earning asset made $29.54/kW, while the top 50 revenue generators averaged $18.24/kW
• Median asset brought in $9.71/kW, with the fleet average higher at $10.15/kW
• RT Energy made up the majority of revenue at 68%

The top 20 performers also saw the majority of their revenue in RT Energy, but at a lower share than the fleet – 52% versus 68%. They leaned harder into Ancillary Services (AS) instead, pulling 25% of revenue from DA AS and 16% from RT AS.

DA Energy made up just 6% of the top 20 performers’ revenue, and only two of the top 20 earners also ranked among the top 20 performers. The overlap was thin because the two groups got there differently. The top earners rode a single event, Winter Storm Fern, while the top performers spread revenue across Energy and AS throughout the six month period. That layering, not one big bet, is what lets the top performers capture more of the opportunity consistently.

• Top performing asset captured 142% of its DA TBx opportunity, and the top 50 averaged 87%.
• Median asset captured 59%, with the fleet average slightly higher at 56%.

On this late January weekend, price formation played out differently than most expected. The Day-Ahead Market carried premiums across energy and Ancillary Services. But with so much risk associated with offering into the DA on these high volatility weekends, where concerns over not being able to recharge or missing out on market cap RT prices – much of the fleet missed out on big opportunities.

Given this, it is no surprise that the winning strategy over Fern weekend was to take the bet on DA Energy and DA AS. Top earners hit the DA Energy premiums, top performers leveraged DA AS more heavily. This dynamic, and the size of the Fern opportunity changed the view on what worked for the whole half. When looking at the fleet’s revenue mix from Jan-June 2026:

The contrast in the revenue stacks of storage assets with vs without Fern is stark.

This all just goes to show that, when thinking through operating strategy, the details matter. High volatility periods can skew the data and could lead one to overweight the role certain products play. In a similar vein, what will be most performant on the average ERCOT day may not be the highest impact during high risk periods.

*Top earners defined as highest $/kW

**Top performers defined as highest percent of DA TBx captured – how much of the available Day-Ahead opportunity an asset captured at its duration (‘x’) and node.