Solar and Battery Storage are Strengthening the Texas Grid

By Daniel Giese

Solar and storage make for a more reliable, affordable power grid, and Texas — the energy capital — is a shining example.

Texas has installed more solar and storage than any state over the past three years, and because of the state’s free market energy policies, the Lone Star State is expected to continue to lead on solar and storage deployment for the foreseeable future. That’s a good thing for Texas’ grid, ratepayers and economy.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the electric grid operator serving 90% of the state, projects that Texas’ energy demand will double by the end of the decade. This summer, the state will break load demand records due to a combination of forces: an already large and growing population, an influx of power-hungry data centers and manufacturing plants, and hotter summer temperatures that force Texans to crank the air-conditioning.