How an Austin-based power startup is working to keep Texans' lights on

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A new electricity startup company in Austin is working to bring more grid reliability to Texans, one battery at a time.

Zach Dell is the co-founder and CEO of Base Power, an electricity provider company that launched in May and is built around installing batteries that offer on-site storage capacity for customers. After several years of working as an investor with technology companies, he said he wanted to tap into new solutions for Texas' grid concerns.

"Austin is the place where innovation is happening. I think we're seeing a lot of technology companies, a lot of hardware companies in particular coming to Austin, and as a born and raised Austinite, it's just incredibly fun to see," he said. "And I'm just really excited for the next decade of growth in Austin and building the company here and attracting the best and brightest to the city."

How does the Base Power battery work?

Justin Lopas, Base Power's COO and co-founder, provided a simplified view of Texas' grid as a line between the energy producer and the home. When a homeowner turns on their lights or an appliance, energy runs through the transmission and distribution line into the home.

The grid is sized for peak load, or heightened demand periods when residents across the state are using their appliances and electricity at the same time. This is especially relevant during Texas summers, when it's more than 100 degrees outdoors and demand is elevated as residents try to keep cool and use their electricity.

"If you have batteries, you're able to store energy when there's not a lot of demand, therefore sort of increasing demand, and then you're able to discharge the battery into the home or onto the grid to reduce demand," Lopas said. "And so that battery enables the grid to be more efficient."

The Base Power battery system is built from lithium iron phosphate with the capacity to hold 20 kilowatt-hours of energy. These are designed to withstand more localized outages, or those caused by downed trees or animals chewing through a wire.

Dell added that while the grid is up and running, the batteries are used to support the power grid; when the grid goes down, that's when the battery kicks into gear and provides electricity to the attached home.

"If something happens at the distribution level, you're going to have outages, so putting batteries on homes is just the most reliable form of power you can have," he said. "And so that's why we decided to take that approach."

Base Power now has hundreds of customers in the greater Austin area who've leased Base Power's on-site batteries. The installation fee runs around $3,000, compared to some smaller generators running for a couple thousand dollars and other batteries marketed in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Pflugerville City Council Member Rudy Metayer is one of Base Power's customers, having leased his battery back in June. He said he was initially attracted to the product because of Dell's name, but also due to power outage issues that have become more prevalent in cities like Pflugerville.

"If anything I've learned from [Winter Storm] Uri, from the numerous heat advisories, from the brownouts that we have right here is that Texans just want reliable energy," he said. "They want an ability to make sure that they're able to take care of themselves when it comes to heating or air conditioning and whatever services they have at home, we should be able to provide that."

How Base Power is building its infrastructure to support a range of power outages

Reliability exists on a spectrum, Dell said; some people want to be able to work from home and join a Zoom meeting without fears of outages, while others have medical devices and are dependent on electricity to stay safe. Most power outages happen in shorter windows and last closer to 30 minutes to two hours, which could still spell crisis for those with medical dependencies.

While a battery on its own won't be able to sustain a customer through a near-weeklong outage similar to the 2021 winter storm, there are means of pairing those batteries with solar systems or a portable generator system to sustain that coverage. Dell said Base Power will soon launch a generator-integrated product for those more long-lasting outage events.

The company is also expanding its customer horizon, already moving into the Dallas-Fort Worth region before eventual expansions into the greater Houston area, Dell said.

As it grows, Metayer said he hopes to see more public-private sector collaborations to make the product as accessible as possible to a wide range of residents from various regional and socio-economic backgrounds. Texas' growth shows no sign of stopping, Metayer said, adding expansions to energy capabilities are critical.

"[We need to look at] what we can do from a public policy standpoint...how do we advocate for the working class who may not have the means right now to get something like this, but are the ones who would benefit the most from its implementation and its adoption across our state," he said.

Dell echoed those sentiments, adding Base Power's work is centered around building out "affordable, reliable power" to its customers. As the Texas Legislature is set to convene in January, he added Base Power is poised to advocate on behalf of its product and the importance of grid reliability to lawmakers.

"We've seen over the last couple of years the grid become more of a focus in the legislative arena, and we want to have a seat at the table. We're involved in the solution, and we want to be a part of the discussion," Dell said. "So there's a lot of progress being made. I think Texas is an amazing place. It's a free market, right? It's a competitive market. You've got a lot of companies that are working to develop solutions, and we want to make sure that the legislative arena is a place where progress can be made, just like we can make progress on the technology side and with customers."