More extreme Texas weather shows need to prepare

This week marks the third anniversary of the worst power grid failure that Texans have ever seen.

Winter Storm Uri in 2021 left millions of Texans shivering in the darkness for days; hundreds of people died. The years since have seen a reckoning among virtually all Texans — from everyday homeowners to top policymakers and elected officials — over how to prepare for the next emergency.

State officials enacted a range of policies over the past three years to protect against widespread blackouts, including backup power purchases that have driven up consumer costs. However, it’s likely that Texas will see blackouts in the future, especially if there’s another storm like Uri.

Three years after Uri, there are really only two certainties: extreme summer and winter weather still threatens the grid and increase electricity costs, and Texans who want to stay free and safe from high bills and blackouts still need to protect themselves.

For many homeowners and small business owners, that means investing in solar panels to generate your own electricity, and in big battery systems that will store your electricity until you need it — either to keep the lights on, or to save money when the grid is stretched.

Freedom Solar Power, the Texas-based company I lead, has seen orders for solar panels and big battery units skyrocket over the past three years. Our sales more than doubled in the year after Uri, and then nearly doubled again between 2022 and 2023. And we have consistently sold 4-to-6 times as many Tesla Powerwall battery units since Winter Storm Uri than we did in 2020.

These homegrown electricity solutions allow families and business owners to live more powerfully, no matter what the weather is doing.

Three years ago, Winter Storm Uri left Elizabeth Andrews of Austin and her family without power for nine days.

Stuck in a dark, freezing home, she felt powerless and "out of control" — and she came out of it determined never to face a situation like that ever again. So she installed rooftop panels and battery units.

That helped her keep the lights on during Austin’s ice storm in December 2022, when most of her neighborhood again went dark for days. And solar and storage repeatedly provided peace of mind over this past summer and winter, when ERCOT put out more than a dozen conservation calls in about six months warning of possible rolling blackouts if Texans didn’t reduce their electricity use.

ERCOT’s repeated public pleas demonstrate the grid’s vulnerability to extreme heat and extreme cold. One day, ERCOT’s fears will be realized: temperatures will swing very high or very low, demand will spike, generators will shut down due to weather or other factors, and there won’t be enough electricity to meet the state’s needs.

After three big winter storms in four winters and another blast furnace summer, that day may be closer than you think. It happened in February 2021. It nearly happened last summer. Even during the winter storm in December 2022, the grid held up, but so much ice fell on trees that some families and communities still lost power for days.

Solar and storage systems do more than protect owners from such emergencies. They also can slash electric bills for homeowners who generate their own electricity. More and more Texans are turning them to keep free and safe from high bills and blackouts. As WFAA reported, in 2023, Texans were on pace to install more rooftop solar systems than ever before.

That’s good for those consumers. It’s also good for the power grid overall, since every bit of electricity that people create themselves offsets power on the grid, which can then move to people who need it.

Solar’s obviously not the only answer. We need consumer-focused solutions like energy efficiency that reduce demand on the system, as well as grid-scale dispatchable generation including gas plants and battery storage. And of course the state needs to ensure that Texas never again sees the widespread failures among thermal generators and gas supply infrastructure that triggered the 2021 blackouts.

But the weather is only getting more extreme, and solar and storage have a key role to play. They protect homeowners and business owners from extreme weather, and they help lower electric bills the rest of the year.

It’s good to be hopeful. It’s better to be safe — especially if it saves you money in the process.

Texans want energy independence, including freedom from the fear of blackouts. As we keep seeing in cold times and hot times, that requires solar power and batteries.

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_{Freedom Solar Power is a Texas-based, full-service solar company, helping customers live more powerfully since 2007.}