Tell legislators: Don't pull the plug on advanced energy this session!
Advanced energy technologies–like solar, batteries, electric vehicles, and microgrids– helped keep the lights on during Winter Storm Uri and now legislators want to make it more difficult and less affordable for advanced energy technologies to help Texans in times of need. This will increase costs for customers and hurt reliability at essential times. We can't let this happen.
We need you to push legislators to stop these bad bills now before the end of the legislative session on May 31st.
Photo: A Sunrun customer was the only home with power during the blackout in his neighborhood, Houston, TX–February 15, 2021.
Advanced Energy Works for Texans
- Sunrun solar + battery customers helped hundreds of Texas customers through forced utility blackouts by providing them with thousands of hours of backup energy to keep their families warm and provide essential services. Some customers had over 50 hours of backup energy.
- Electric vehicle owners planned ahead of Winter Storm Uri to ensure their vehicles were nearly fully charged and were able to utilize their cars intermittently for heat and power. In San Antonio, one family was able to run their EV's heater to stay warm for three nights on a single charge. Some EV owners were also able to utilize their vehicle in combination with a power inverter to charge phones and battery packs.
- Enchanted Rock has over 200 microgrids in operation in Texas. During the winter storm, 140 customers maintained electricity as they were experiencing grid outages. Many of these sites were stores (Walmart, Buc-ee's, and H.E.B.) that were able to stay open to supply food, prescriptions, and gas during the crisis.
- Analysis after Winter Storm Uri shows that wind and solar energy did better than ERCOT models predicted during the winter weather event. Both resources helped keep more customers with power as the electricity grid came back on line.