Texas is not only the biggest oil and gas producing state in the U.S.—it leads America’s renewable energy and battery capacity additions, outshining California, Florida, Arizona, and Colorado.
Abundant wind and solar resources have made Texas a powerhouse in renewable energy installations, while battery storage capacity has also surged in recent years to support the clean energy rollout in the state.
As of the end of 2024, Texas had more renewable energy and battery capacity combined than any other state, according to estimates from energy data portal Cleanview reported by Reuters columnist Gavin Maguire.
Texas boasted 42 gigawatts (GW) of wind power capacity, about 22 GW in solar power, and 6.5 GW of utility-scale battery capacity, per the Cleanview data based on U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) figures.
California had the biggest battery storage capacity, at more than 11 GW as of end-2024, but its solar capacity is now lower than Texas’s at around 21.5 GW.
In Texas, total operational capacity of utility-scale batteries jumped by more than 4,100% to 5.7 GW between September 2020 and September 2024.
The surge in energy storage capacity additions has helped Texas lower energy costs for consumers, avoid conservation appeals, and enabled the power grid to better navigate extreme weather events, an analysis by the American Clean Power Association (ACP) showed last month.
“Energy storage is doing the job it was designed to do, delivering affordable power for Texas during the most critical moments, whether historic heatwaves or winter storms,” said Noah Roberts, VP of Energy Storage for ACP.
John Zahurancik, President, Americas, at energy storage products and services provider Fluence, commented on the ACP analysis,
“These battery storage resources are central to an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence, and a commonsense solution that brings greater flexibility, resilience, and affordability to the state of Texas.”
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
