ERCOT Storage Performance | July 2026

July gave more revenue opportunity for ERCOT energy storage operators compared to June, but most operators captured less of it. The fleet average revenue rose 22% from June, yet average performance (measured by Day-Ahead TBx capture) fell 13% – to its lowest point since RTC+B launched.

One primary reason starts with price premiums flipping into Day-Ahead (DA) Energy, which cleared higher than Real-Time (RT) Energy across all hours on average – a reversal from June. That shift pushed DA Energy from 1% of revenue last month to 10% in July.

It was a hard shift for much of the fleet. Many operators largely shy away from DA Energy, while others who did participate still couldn’t capture the full opportunity.

DA Energy held the price premium on average across all hours, and that’s where the top 20 earners set themselves apart. DA Energy made up 19% of their revenue compared to 10% for the fleet average.

DA Energy isn’t an easy place to win. It carries risk, and operators have to manage state of charge (SOC) around positions they committed to. Leaning in took correct forecasts, the conviction to act on them, and a bidding strategy to execute.

Despite DA holding the price premium in both Energy and Ancillary Services (AS), RT still made up the larger share of revenue across the fleet. For the fleet average, 74% of revenue came from RT Energy. On the AS side, RT AS brought in 2x the revenue of DA AS.

• Highest earning asset made $3.89/kW-month, while the top 50 revenue generators averaged $2.15/kW-month
• Median asset brought in $0.98/kW-month, with the fleet average higher at $1.10/kW-month
• RT Energy made up the majority of revenue at 74%
• DA Energy prices cleared 22% higher than RT Energy during peak hours on average

July’s performance, measured by DA TBx capture, was the lowest since RTC+B launched, from the top asset down to the fleet average. Only January came close, when Winter Storm Fern hit – a DA Energy-heavy event and common thread to July.

The drop in performance came down to DA Energy. With DA Energy prices sitting above RT Energy, DA was the market to be in. Capturing it took accurate forecasts to call the right hours, the conviction to commit to DA, and the operational confidence to follow through in RT. The top 20 performers did both and earned nearly 3x as much from DA Energy as the average operator, at $0.47/kW-month compared to $0.16/kW-month. Much of the fleet fell short, which is how capture dropped to a 6-month low.

• Top performing asset captured 94% of its DA TBx opportunity, 47% lower than last month
• Top 50 averaged 73% DA TBx capture.
• Median asset captured 50%, 13% lower than last month

*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.