DER - Storage

Thousands of Texans kept the lights on through Beryl via Sunnova solar + storage systems

Thousands of Texans kept the lights on through Beryl via Sunnova solar + storage systems
Solar panels on the rooftops of homes in a Texas neighborhood (courtesy: Sunnova)

While hundreds of thousands of Texans waited for their power to come back on post-Hurricane Beryl, a bevy of Sunnova customers were generating energy.

Sunnova Energy International announced today that it powered the homes of nearly 3,000 customers in the Houston area during and after Hurricane Beryl. From July 8-15, while the local utility grids were knocked out and unable to deliver power to Texans, Sunnova solar + storage customers generated 485,249 kWh of energy.

“We’re proud of our proven track record of helping keep the power on during disasters, and pleased to have powered our fellow Houstonians during Hurricane Beryl,” said William J. Berger, president and chief executive officer at Sunnova. “At a critical moment for our city’s power infrastructure, Sunnova had the capability to deliver when the local utilities could not, and as a result, nearly 3,000 Houston-area customers were able to keep the lights on, their food cold, and their families safe. This reinforces the notion that during grid outages, a solar + storage system protects homeowners and provides peace of mind with clean, resilient power that comes backed by the best service in the industry.”

96% of Sunnova SunSafe® systems in the Houston area required no repairs or maintenance in the week following Hurricane Beryl, and for those that did, Sunnova dispatched crews immediately to perform repairs, the company said.

“Solar + storage adoption continues to accelerate as people see its value as a resilient source of energy,” added Michael Grasso, Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer at Sunnova. “We believe the distributed energy from these aggregated power plants will play an increasing role in US utility grids where our solar + storage systems supplement the centralized electric system to drive increased resiliency and when the grid fails, to ensure reliable off-grid power to our customers.”

Rooftop solar is growing in Texas, as more residents take matters into their own hands to prepare for inclement weather and excessive heat.

However, a recent study released by the Texans for Local Energy Freedom Coalition, The Value of Residential Solar in Texas, argues the state is not fully taking advantage of its rooftop solar potential, and changing course could mitigate some capacity shortfalls. The report, commissioned by the Texas Solar Energy Society (TXSES), suggests the overall value of distributed solar in ERCOT will be about 27¢/kWh, with 15¢/kWh realized in the generation, transmission, and distribution system and 12¢/kWh realized through air pollutant and emission reduction benefits. Distributed energy resources (DERs) like rooftop solar could help meet that growing demand, but the total installed rooftop solar capacity in ERCOT territory is less than 3% of its technical potential, according to a recent report from Dunsky.

This isn’t the first time Sunnova has touted the benefits of its systems after a real-life disaster turned into a case study.

When Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico in September 2022, Sunnova said its SunSafe solar + storage systems generated nearly 2 GWh of energy in the first two weeks after the storm. Systems provided a combined 3.4 million hours of backup power for solar + storage customers, with an average of 128 hours of power generated per household. It said customers averaged 5.3 days of solar + storage battery backup with many relying on their solar + storage system for more than 10 days.

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