Last month, the Los Angeles Times reported on the role battery storage played in helping California navigate its hottest August on record without rolling outages. Now, a new Houston Chronicle story tells a similar story in Texas.
Texas used more electricity than ever this summer, surpassing its previous demand record on 45 separate days. Yet unlike during the extreme heat of 2023, when the state issued nearly a dozen requests for customers to conserve electricity, this summer saw no conservation requests and no grid emergency.
“For customers, the grid simply worked the way it was supposed to,” ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told the grid operator’s board.
The Chronicle spoke with more than half a dozen grid experts about what changed. Their answer centered on the rapid growth of solar power and battery storage. Since 2023, Texas has added 16 gigawatts of battery storage, more than quadrupling the amount available on its grid. Batteries can charge when electricity is plentiful, including when solar power is abundant and inexpensive during the day, and deliver that energy later as demand rises.
The article also notes that batteries reduced the need for ERCOT to bring more expensive natural gas plants online during the evening demand surge. That added flexibility helps reduce costs. CenterPoint Energy CEO Jason Wells told the Chronicle that the growth of solar and batteries “helps dampen the prices,” calling it “a real success story.”
California and Texas have very different electric systems, and batteries are only one part of the mix in both states. But their experiences this summer provide two recent examples of how storage is becoming an increasingly necessary tool for managing growing demand while keeping electricity reliable and affordable.