Analysis of Distributed Generation in Texas
A historical assessment of natural gas generation, reliability, and commercial solar in Texas.
Natural Gas
Reliability
Commercial Solar
New Entrants
Natural gas was the dominant behind-the-meter distributed generation technology at commercial and industrial sites in Texas when DECH undertook this review.
Drawing on registered generating-entity information from the Texas PUC and data from ERCOT, the analysis highlighted the companies, technologies, and customer motivations shaping the market.
Enchanted Rock Was the Market Leader
At the time of the original analysis, Enchanted Rock had nearly 254 MW of distributed generation at third-party sites, including H-E-B facilities and utility districts. Most, if not all, of this capacity was fueled by natural gas.
Walmart had also deployed generation at many of its Texas stores, although those assets principally supported its own operations rather than third-party customers.
Reliability Was a Priority for End Users
With a substantial share of distributed generation serving retail and critical-load facilities, the market illustrated the value customers placed on resilience and uninterrupted operations.
Protect business continuity during outages.
Maintain essential local services.
Reduce exposure to grid interruptions.
For these facilities, avoiding an outage can be a primary financial justification for on-site generation.
Commercial Solar Lagged Natural Gas
Big Sun Solar was identified as a leading developer of commercial behind-the-meter solar, with an average installed project near 500 kW per location. The review found relatively few other large commercial developers at that time.
Companies such as Agilitas and Catalyze were beginning to enter with solar and storage solutions, potentially broadening the technology mix in the years ahead.
Established market presence driven largely by reliability.
Smaller historical role, with installations averaging about 500 kW for one leading developer.
An emerging avenue for broader behind-the-meter development.
What the Historical Review Suggests
The Texas market snapshot underscores the importance of matching generation and storage investments to the customer’s practical priorities and the local electricity-market context.
Technology adoption was being driven by tangible customer needs, with reliability especially important at retail and critical-load locations.
Historical market assessment. Company capacity figures and competitive positions should not be treated as current.
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