How Battery Power Led to Reliable Energy in Texas

The State of Texas is displaying an inconsistent and unproductive stance on clean energy. On the one hand, most current Texas politicians eagerly bend to the will of their state’s fossil fuels lobby. On the other hand, actual electric generation in Texas keeps setting records for wind and solar power. 

Now, utility-scale battery power is starting to weigh in as a contributor to Texas’ energy mix. On April 28th of this year, a combination of unseasonable warmth and scheduled maintenance for gas-fired power plants left the isolated Texas electric grid short of the generating capacity needed to keep its 26 million customers’ air conditioners running into the hot night. Fortunately for those customers, the Texas grid operator already has a large number  of enormous utility-scale batteries under contract. Just before 8 p.m. that evening, the grid utilized this battery fleet for emergency backup to generate 2 gigawatts worth of electricity: enough to keep up with power demand and save customers money by avoiding more expensive power sources. 

Battery Companies Highlight Their Product

Aaron Zubaty, CEO of Eolian Power (which owns some of the biggest batteries in Texas), said at the time, “This was the largest instantaneous amount of energy storage deployed to date in the Texas market, but nevertheless is a record that will be substantially exceeded this summer as more energy storage capacity is commissioned in the coming months.” His prediction rang true less than two weeks later, with a 3 gigawatt battery power surge used on the evening of May 8.

North Carolina Needs More Battery Storage

The ”wild west” of Texas’ isolated state grid is notorious for allowing major blackouts to strike in recent years. This time, however, the grid’s successful reliance on battery companies has demonstrated that including utility-scale battery power in the electric mix works. 

North Carolina lawmakers and regulators should take note of Texas’s battery backup when weighing Duke Energy’s expensive plans for fossil-fuel expansion instead of renewable energy.