Texas farmers tap networked residential batteries for outage protection

Base Power, a Texas-headquartered company developing a network of distributed batteries, has teamed up with a local cooperative of farmers to launch a residential battery program in Northeast Texas.

The residential battery program is intended to bring affordable, whole-home backup to members of the Farmers Electric Cooperative, while also providing grid balancing services to the wider region.

Base Power will manage the installation, maintenance and service for the life of the battery. The company will deploy 20 MW of 24/7 dispatchable capacity through a fleet of networked residential battery systems. The Farmers Electric Cooperative will keep costs affordable for its members by using the batteries to shave system peak and perform energy arbitrage using Base Power’s proprietary algorithms.

Base Power plans to deliver the capacity over the next year and utilize a front-of-the-meter deployment configuration that ensures member bills are not impacted. The first installations under the program are due to start in January 2026, but farmers in the cooperative can already check if their home is eligible to qualify for the scheme.

Base Power’s ‘Gen 1’ battery is a ground-mounted 11.4 kW/25 kWh system with a typical duration of eight to twelve hours, based on the power use of a typical Texas household. Customers can also avail of a double ground-mounted system with a total storage capacity of 50 kWh and a typical duration of 15 to 24 hours.

The batteries and energy storage systems are safety certified according to industry standards (UL 1973, UL 9540) and the system is also certified against thermal runaway (UL 9540A) and according to inverter safety and grid interconnection standard (UL 1741).

“We are excited to welcome the Farmers membership into a growing community of Texans who are seeking more reliable and affordable backup power,” said Zach Dell, CEO of Base Power. “With our distributed battery platform, we can add meaningful, dispatchable capacity to support growth while providing households with protection against outages.”

Popular business model

Founded in 2023, Base Power has several partnerships with utility companies and electric cooperatives. Its business model of providing backup residential power via virtual power plants (VPPs) in Texas, an area frequently affected by power blackouts and extreme weather events, has proven extremely popular with investors and customers alike.

In February 2025, Base Power expanded into Houston and in March it began a distributed battery storage partnership with Bandera Electric Cooperative, a Texas-based member-owned cooperative. Under the deal, Base Power provides homeowners with battery backup systems as part of Bandera’s home battery program.

Commenting at the time, Dell described the partnership between Bandera and Base Power as “a major milestone – not just for Base, but for co-ops and municipal utilities across Texas.”

The CEO pointed out that such deals prove “utilities don’t have to wait years for storage capacity.”

We’re deploying at a speed never seen before in Texas, helping bring affordable, reliable energy to more communities.”

Justin Lopas, co-founder of Base Power, said in a statement reported by Reuters that the company has deployed more than 100 MWh of residential battery capacity and is building its first factory in Austin and planning its second.

In October, the company announced it had raised $1 billion in funding in a round led by VC firm Addition with other investors including Valor Equity Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Lightspeed. This announcement followed the company’s previous fundraise, a Series B round worth $200 million, in April.