Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed Home Invoice 3809 into legislation Might 29, mandating that every one battery vitality storage methods (BESS) amenities be decommissioned on the finish of their lifecycle. This legislation, which takes impact Sept. 1, applies to each standalone BESS amenities and people co-located with photo voltaic and wind energy crops, and requires builders to signal a non-waiver clause forbidding any contractual modifications.
(A considerably related invoice, SB 1150, was despatched by the Texas legislator to Abbott’s desk requiring oil and fuel corporations to plug deserted wells after 15 years, though that invoice offers extra alternatives for flexibility and extensions for the fossil gas corporations.)
Fundamentals of HB 3809
HB 3809 could be very particular concerning its supposed targets. The primary provisions of the legislation are:
- Obligatory decommissioning of BESS amenities at their finish of lifecycle: This course of consists of the elimination of buried cables, transformers and inverters, and all foundations must be dug not less than three ft deeper than the unique construction to make sure correct web site restoration.
- Landowners’ proper to request further rehabilitation measures: Landowners can request that the homeowners of the BESS gear undertake further work reminiscent of eradicating inside roads, reseeding land with native crops and rehabilitating the land to agriculture requirements.
- BESS builders should present monetary assurance for decommissioning measures: Initiatives homeowners will seek the advice of with a third-party engineer to supply a complete value for decommissioning, each earlier than the beginning of the venture and yearly till the termination of the lease or the fifteenth yr of the BESS.
Texas’ vitality actuality
Texas ranks first within the U.S. in complete wind energy manufacturing, and second nationally for photo voltaic capability. In 2024, wind and photo voltaic produced nearly 30 % of the state’s complete vitality, whereas coal produced round 11 %. Fuel is the most important supply of vitality inside the state, accounting for greater than half of all electrical energy manufacturing in 2024.
Notorious for an unreliable grid that fails in excessive climate, Texas photo voltaic vitality and battery storage supplied grid stability in the course of the peak of summer season 2024, producing 25 % of energy wants throughout mid-day hours between June 1 and Aug. 31, in response to the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
To retailer renewable vitality, as of 2024 Texas constructed 6,500 megawatts of utility-scale battery capability, in response to the Power Data Administration.
Financial affect on battery storage
What does HB 3809 in the end imply for the the way forward for Texas’ battery storage business?
“Its burden falls heaviest on lithium-based storage,” stated J. Goldsbury, VP of technique and improvement at Renuvi Power, including that HB 3809 “is greater than only a regulatory shift – it’s a market sign.”
Goldsbury defined that builders utilizing lithium-based batteries — essentially the most extensively obtainable and market-ready kind of battery — will face higher upfront prices as a result of HB 3809. And any cash probably recouped by promoting or recycling the decommissioned lithium is way from sure.
“Lithium markets are unstable, and restoration economics are removed from predictable,” defined Goldsbury. “Present recycling initiatives are expensive and logistically advanced with a restricted variety of corporations at the moment obtainable within the U.S.”
“It may make it more durable for corporations to maintain there initiatives financially viable,” agreed James Allsopp, CEO of iNet Ventures, a PR company that works intently with battery storage corporations.
However there are some constructive ramifications of the legislation.
“We see this legislation as a long-overdue recognition of what Renuvi has identified from the beginning: not all battery methods are created equal and infrastructure-based deployments that help the ability grid needs to be designed with typical grid lifecycles in thoughts,” stated Goldsbury.
The legislation incentivizes continued battery storage innovation that may ultimately reduce waste from the know-how. “It encourages eco-friendly practices and cautious disposal,” stated Allsopp.
After all, a big portion of federal funding to pay for this innovation is up within the air because the Senate continues to edit the Home’s reconciliation invoice.