US Giant batteries help make up for power shortages when a power plant in Texas suddenly shuts down due to overload.
A giant battery storage facility in Texas. Photo: PV Magazine
A heat dome forming over Texas is putting unprecedented pressure on the state’s power grid, leaving officials scrambling to keep lights and air conditioning running. The sweltering heat has persisted for days and could get worse before the dome eases. Some forecasts suggest temperatures could rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in three major metropolitan areas — Houston, Dallas and Austin — in the coming days. Tens of millions of people in Texas and nearby states should consider taking precautions to avoid the heat starting on June 14, according to the Washington Post .
But Texas is vulnerable to blackouts because it cannot receive power from neighboring states during the crisis. It is the only state in the US that is not connected to the national grid to avoid federal regulations. "The next week is going to be a real test," said Joshua Rhodes, an energy scientist at the University of Texas at Austin. "Every air conditioner in the area is going to need electricity at the same time."
State officials are looking to giant batteries as a solution. These truck-sized systems, which can quickly feed stored electricity back into the grid when manufacturing plants struggle, were essential in avoiding blackouts this past week amid record-breaking temperatures. They’ve also reignited debate about the role of clean energy in stabilizing Texas’s grid, since batteries are an ideal match for wind and solar power.
Power system operators across the country are closely watching how Texas handles the crisis. While Texas is dealing with prolonged high temperatures combined with overloaded power plants and transmission lines, similar situations can happen anywhere at any time. Changing weather patterns and the deterioration of regional power grids make it increasingly likely that the country will experience power outages for longer periods of time each year.
"Texas is experiencing what everyone in the country will experience in some form over the next few years. All the systems are not designed to operate in prolonged heat. This is the type of weather that can cause strange things to happen that no one has ever thought of.
The National Weather Service has warned that the heat wave will become increasingly dangerous and deadly in parts of Texas. The scorching weather is expected to continue into next week. Several Texas cities have broken temperature records. The San Angelo airport hit 111 degrees in the middle of the week, far surpassing the record set a year ago.
The high temperatures are accompanied by high humidity, which exacerbates the effects of heat and health risks. This causes heat to be trapped in buildings instead of cooling at night. The situation appears to be even more dire on the Mexican border. The US power grid is under threat as temperatures rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in parts of the country. In Texas, the grid has so far been operating despite the extreme heat.
The role of oversized batteries in maintaining power supplies is welcome news for clean energy companies. Batteries are well suited to wind and solar power because they can collect and store electricity when it is not needed and have it available when it is needed. When a large coal plant shut down during peak hours last week amid heat stress, the energy stored in batteries in Texas was quickly released to the grid through the evening. Batteries were also critical to meeting demand when a nuclear plant went down earlier this week, said Doug Lewin, an energy consultant in Texas.
The grid is quickly at risk of blackouts when a plant unexpectedly shuts down. Batteries, like many gas turbines, can instantly fill that gap. This type of backup power wasn’t available in Texas in 2011, when Hurricane Uri knocked out plants and left millions of Texans in the dark for days. It was one of the largest power outages in recent U.S. history. At least 246 people died in the storm. Since then, Texas has become the nation’s leader in battery storage, trailing only California. Texas plans to double its battery storage capacity within the next year, which will help spur the development of wind and solar power here.
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