AUSTIN, July 14, 2025 – As a searing heatwave gripped Texas last week, pushing electricity demand towards record highs, the state's grid witnessed a landmark moment in its energy transition: a staggering 6 gigawatts (GW) of power surged onto the grid not from traditional gas plants, but from a vast and rapidly growing army of grid-scale batteries.
The Record Discharge
During the critical peak demand hours on the afternoon of July 9th, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) reported a sustained discharge from battery storage resources exceeding 6,000 megawatts (6 GW) for over an hour. To put that into perspective, 6 GW is roughly equivalent to the peak demand of the entire city of Houston, or powering more than 1.2 million Texas homes simultaneously during the hottest part of the day.
This unprecedented discharge smashed the previous record of approximately 4.2 GW set just weeks earlier and underscored the critical role energy storage now plays in grid reliability. "It felt like the batteries were breathing with the grid," observed one ERCOT grid operator, speaking on background. "Just as demand peaked, they kicked in massively, taking pressure off thermal generators and helping stabilize frequency."
The Context: Heat, Policy, and Debate
The record came amidst scorching temperatures exceeding 105°F across much of the state and followed closely on the heels of a major policy debate. Just days before, former President Donald Trump reiterated his stance on renewable energy during a campaign stop, calling wind and solar power "bad for the grid" and criticizing their intermittency. However, the reality unfolding on the Texas grid told a different story. As highlighted in a recent Reuters analysis, Texas continues to be a global leader in integrating renewables and the storage needed to make them reliable:
Trump calls wind, solar "bad" for power grid, but Texas shows otherwise | Reuters
The Reuters piece detailed how Texas, driven largely by market forces and declining costs, has become a battery storage powerhouse. Over 10 GW of grid-scale batteries were operational by mid-2025, with several more gigawatts under construction. This boom is directly tied to the state's massive wind and solar generation – the very resources whose variability batteries are designed to mitigate.
How Batteries Saved the Day (and Dollars)
During the peak heat event:
- Solar Ramped Down: As the sun began to set, solar generation naturally decreased, precisely when air conditioning demand remained sky-high.
- Batteries Stepped Up: Charged earlier by cheap midday solar (and sometimes overnight wind), the battery fleets across the state discharged en masse, injecting critical power into the grid.
- Reduced Strain & Cost: This massive battery discharge prevented the need to call upon the very last, most expensive, and often least efficient "peaker" gas plants. It also helped avoid potential emergency conservation alerts or, in a worst-case scenario, rotating outages. Analysts estimate the batteries saved consumers tens of millions of dollars in potential high wholesale power costs during those peak hours.
A Real-Time Triumph
Energy analyst Doug Lewin captured the significance of the moment in real-time, posting on social media:
Doug Lewin on X: ERCOT battery discharge just hit 6,000 MW... mind officially blown. This is the future, operating now in Texas.
His post highlighted a key chart showing the battery output soaring alongside the setting sun. "This wasn't a pilot project or a future promise," Lewin later elaborated. "This was 6,000 megawatts of zero-emission, flexible capacity, built largely in the last 3 years, answering the call when the grid needed it most. It fundamentally changes the reliability and economic equation."
The Road Ahead
While the 6 GW discharge is a monumental achievement, experts caution that Texas needs much more storage, transmission, and diversified generation (including geothermal and next-gen nuclear) to ensure long-term grid resilience, especially as climate change intensifies heatwaves and the state's population grows. ERCOT's own recent assessment of winter readiness also emphasized the need for robust dispatchable resources, including storage paired with renewables.
However, last week's event stands as an irrefutable testament to the evolving grid. Batteries, charged by Texas's abundant wind and sun, are no longer a niche technology; they are a central pillar of the state's strategy to keep the lights on during the most extreme conditions, proving that renewables coupled with storage are not "bad for the grid," but are increasingly essential to its reliable and affordable operation. The future, it seems, is discharging in Texas.
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