H-E-B and Walmart in Texas installing microgrids for power outages

It’s been more than three years since a severe winter storm caused Texas’ power grid to fail, plunging more than 4.5 million homes and businesses into darkness and causing hundreds of deaths across the state. 

The power grid collapse in February of 2021 accounted for 47 outages across the state during that storm, adding to the 263 power outages the state has experienced since 2019, making Texas the most outage-prone state in the nation, according to Governing Magazine. 

That inconsistent reliability of the Texas power grid has prompted grocers like H-E-B and Walmart to set up their own so-called microgrids in the Lone Star State, according to a new story in Chron.com, an online edition of the Houston Chronicle.  

The microgrids, which enable the stores to continue operating during a power outage, are made possible by Houston-based company Enchanted Rock, according to Chron.com.

The generators are used in hospitals and assisted-living facilities, but large retail operations, like grocery stores, are their biggest customers. The story notes that more than 85 H-E-B stores have installed natural gas microgrids. 

H-E-B has also utilized solar panels on 60 of its stores to protect them from the unreliable electric power grid. In some cases, H-E-B and Walmart have been able to sell the power back to the Texas grid as a source of income.

Related:Stop & Shop to convert power at 40 stores to clean energy microgrids