Texas has come a long way since 2021, when Winter Storm Uri left millions of Texans without power for days during a stretch of below-freezing temperatures. The deadly impact, and traumatic effects for millions of Texans, forced intense scrutiny of the Lone Star State’s electricity infrastructure. As part of a series of recent winter storms, along with Winter Storms Elliot and Mara, Uri exposed serious vulnerabilities in the Texas grid.
In the four years since Uri hit, Texas has made enormous improvements toward making the grid more reliable, in part by significantly increasing energy capacity. In his recent State of the State address, Governor Greg Abbott highlighted Texas’ 35% increase in power generation.
This growth is driven almost entirely by increases in advanced energy. In fact, over 90% of Texas’ new power capacity in the past four years came from solar, wind, and battery storage.
Texas leads the country in installed utility-scale solar and wind capacity and is closing in on California for the top spot in grid-scale battery deployment. Between January 1, 2021, and January 1 of this year, Texas added:
- 23,114 megawatts of solar power
- 9,741 megawatts of battery storage
- 8,343 megawatts of wind power
On February 2, 2025, resources on the ERCOT power grid set a record, producing the most megawatts of solar energy ever in Texas while meeting 48% of the ERCOT demand. And there is much more renewable capacity on the way. There are 27,888 MW of solar, 15,266 MW of battery storage, and 7,356 MW of wind to come from projects that are in the late stages of development, according to the latest monthly ERCOT GIS Report, which tracks generation projects in the interconnection queue.
There are significant investments that Texas could and should make to further strengthen its electric grid, including building more transmission lines to connect and transfer all this new electricity – especially since curtailment is causing Texans to miss out on added economic benefits – as well as opportunities to improve grid efficiency, lower household energy use, and leverage aggregated systems like virtual power plants and microgrids to improve resilience.
Now, other states are looking to better understand how Texas has been able to deploy extensive new advanced energy resources so quickly. Amid a growing demand for electricity – from factors like artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers, a resurgent domestic manufacturing sector, and the growing popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) and electric home appliances – states across the country recognize the need to increase grid capacity by building more resources.
That was the topic of a webinar we hosted on Thursday, February 13, where I moderated a discussion on Texas’ unique market structure and its role in accelerating energy resource deployment. We also talked about the risks that lie ahead as Texas navigates reliability concerns, load growth, and shifting political priorities in the 89th legislative session. The panelists that joined me were Texas State Senator Nathan Johnson (D-16) of Dallas County, Doug Lewin, Author of The Texas Energy and Power Newsletter, and Mona Tierney-Lloyd, Head of Regulatory and Institutional Affairs for Enel North America.