Residential battery installer Base Power and the Denton County Electric Cooperative (CoServ) have expanded their residential battery program to 450 MW, the companies have announced.

The announcement comes on the heels of Base’s announcement of a battery buildout in nearly 6,500 Dallas-area homes. Since the launch of the CoServ partnership in March, the firms have installed about 75 MW worth of battery systems in member homes of the cooperative.

“In March, we set out with CoServ to show how quickly distributed batteries can add capacity to a growing system,” says Base Power co-founder and CEO Zach Dell. “Seventy-five megawatts later, CoServ members have made clear how much they value affordable, reliable backup power. We’re proud to expand to 450 MW and bring that protection to thousands more homes across North Texas.”

Each Base Power battery is able to provide whole-home backup during outages across the area, adding to a fully networked fleet that CoServ can also dispatch during peak demand. The fleet has grown by about 10 MW per month, according to Base Power officials, who also note that such a rate is much faster than a normal renewable energy buildout.

To Texas, and beyond

The expansion comes as a doubling down for Base Power, as it looks to grow both in the Lone Star State and beyond. The company recently announced a utility partnership with the Central Georgia Electric Membership Corporation (EMC), and formed a sales partnership with Walmart to further serve the Texas market.

“When we launched this program, we saw distributed batteries as an opportunity to add flexible capacity while creating meaningful value for our Members,” says Gary Franzen, CoServ’s chief energy resources officer. “The adoption we’ve seen in just a matter of months reinforces that opportunity.

“Expanding the program allows us to build on that momentum and create an even larger resource that benefits participating Members and the broader CoServ system.”

— Solar Builder magazine