Tracking Texas solar storage legislation is a big part of what we do here at The Feed. This said, let’s dive in…

The 89th Texas Legislature adjourned in June 2025 after considering dozens of bills touching solar, wind, and battery storage. A handful have become law and are already reshaping how residential, commercial and industrial (C&I), and grid-scale energy storage projects are built and operated. Several others -including some that would have significantly restricted new solar and wind development- failed to pass. The Legislature doesn’t meet in regular session again until January 2027, but that doesn’t mean things have gone quiet: interim committees are actively studying several of these same issues right now, and some major pieces of 2025’s grid legislation are moving through rulemaking as we speak.

Texas renewable energy legislation is a strange beast; despite lots of conservative sway in the halls of our state house and senate, most legislators know their constituents broadly support -and see benefits from- continued investment in the sector. This reality can often end up at-odds with policy prescriptions being handed down by the federal government via the current administration -and sometimes drives laws that may not be intuitive on the surface.

In any case, here’s where all of it stands, updated for Summer of 2026.

What Actually Became Law: Texas Solar Storage Legislation Now in Effect

New compliance requirements for commercial and grid-scale battery storage. HB 3809 now requires grid-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) operators to plan for end-of-life: removal, recycling, and financial assurance covering decommissioning costs, effective September 1, 2025. HB 3824 adds fire safety standards and testing requirements for battery storage facilities of 1 megawatt-hour or larger, applying to any facility that begins commercial operation on or after January 1, 2027. Together, these are the first Texas-specific lifecycle and safety rules for grid-scale and large commercial battery storage. (*note: NATiVE doesn’t build grid-scale projects but we think it’s important to keep our eyes on this stuff for ourselves and our customers)

Recycling and reporting rules for solar and wind components. HB 3228 adds end-of-life recycling requirements for wind and solar facility components, applying to leases executed after September 1, 2025. Its companion, HB 3229, requires companies that recycle renewable energy components to file annual reports with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and post financial assurance covering recycling and disposal costs.

Grid and interconnection changes. SB 6 directs the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) and ERCOT (the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator) to set new interconnection charges for large electricity loads (think data centers and industrial facilities here folks), reevaluate how transmission costs are allocated, and standardize interconnection processes. SB 2268 extended funding deadlines for the Texas Energy Fund and split its capacity limits into separate categories. Lawmakers also approved an additional $5 billion for the Texas Energy Fund, with $1.8 billion directed to the Texas Backup Power Package Program, which supports backup power installations, including solar-plus-storage. [REVIEW: financial claim — verify current fund balance/allocation before publishing, as these figures can shift with subsequent appropriations]. Eligibility and award structure for that program vary by project type and utility territory — worth a direct conversation with your utility or a project developer before assuming a specific project qualifies.

A few adjacent items. SB 75 created a Texas Grid Security Commission to evaluate grid security and resiliency statewide. HB 3556 now requires wind projects taller than 575 feet in coastal counties to consult with Texas Parks and Wildlife regarding migratory bird impacts. Neither directly changes solar development, but both reflect the broader regulatory environment solar and storage projects now sit inside. *Note – We here at NATiVE advocate for new laws like this via our membership in the TXES (Texas Solar Energy Society).

What Didn’t Pass -and Why It Matters

Several bills introduced in recent sessions would have made new solar, wind, and battery storage projects substantially harder to permit and build. None of them became law, but they’re worth understanding -both because the debate around them shapes how state and local jurisdictions think about renewables, and because industry analysts widely expect similar proposals to resurface in the next regular session in 2027.

SB 388 would have created a “dispatchable generation” credit program that explicitly excluded battery storage from counting as dispatchable — despite storage’s actual grid role. SB 715, along with a companion measure, HB 3356, would have required existing wind and solar farms to retroactively secure separate backup generation capacity, a mandate with no real precedent for other generation types. SB 819 would have added extra PUCT permitting hurdles — including environmental review and a subjective “public interest” test -specifically for solar and wind projects larger than 10 megawatts, without applying the same standard to gas or other generation. We covered this trio in more detail in our recent blog post –Texas Legislature Rejects Anti-Renewable Bills: What It Means for Solar.

Beyond those three, a few more died that are directly relevant for those entities planning a larger commercial project: HB 1378 and HB 3056 would have imposed a 500-yard setback requirement on battery storage facilities and on solar and wind facilities, respectively, from cities and counties -this would have been a restriction that could have taken otherwise-viable commercial sites off the table. SB 383 would have amounted to a near-ban on offshore wind development off the Texas coast. HB 3722 would have added a five-mile no-build buffer around Department of Defense aerobatic training areas for wind projects.  We here at NATiVE are ok with all of these being shot down as well. :)

Oh, One more worth a direct correction: HB 407, which would have required cities and counties to add solar-ready building code provisions for new residential construction, was left pending in the House Land & Resource Management Committee in May 2025 and never advanced. It did not become law, has no effective date, and carries no compliance deadline or penalty for builders. If you’ve seen claims elsewhere -including on this site- describing HB 407 as an enacted requirement with a 2025 or 2027 compliance date, that information is out of date and is being corrected.  We’re closely following this one here at The Feed, and will update our readers here when something changes.

Where Things Stand Right Now (2026)

Texas only holds regular legislative sessions in odd-numbered years, so there’s no bill-passing happening in 2026. Bummer. But the interim period between sessions is where the groundwork for 2027 gets laid, and this year’s activity gives a pretty good read on what’s lilely coming down the pipeline…

Interim charges are revisiting battery storage and solar decommissioning. Ahead of the 90th Legislature, the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Economic Development was charged with examining “Ensuring Responsible Renewable Energy Decommissioning”. This is a direct follow-on to 2025’s HB 3228 and HB 3229 recycling requirments, and a signal that lawmakers may look at tightening those rules further. On the House side, the Committee on State Affairs received a charge specifically on “Battery Storage and Safety,” building on HB 3824’s fire safety standards. Both chambers also received noticies on integrating distributed energy resources -rooftop solar, home batteries, and similar- with the Senate’s version tied to a broader push on “Modernizing Transmission and Enhancing Affordability.” None of this is a bill yet, but interim charges are usually a reliable preview of what gets filed once the session opens.

SB 6 is now in active rulemaking. The Public Utility Commission of Texas voted in March 2026 to publish a draft rule (16 TAC §25.194) implementing SB 6’s new interconnection standards for large electricity loads of 75 megawatts or more -the threshold covers data centers and large industrial facilities, and by extension any solar or battery storage co-located with them. Public comment closed in April 2026, with formal adoption expected by mid-2026. In parallel, ERCOT is running the first group of applications -“Batch Zero”- through its new coordinated interconnection review process, and is notifying those applicants of their project classification this month. Those planning a large-scale project that will interconnect alongside a big load are closely watching this potential rulemaking.

The Senate Business & Commerce Committee is also formally monitoring SB 6 implementation, which is a good sign this stays an active topic through the rest of the interim period rather than fading until 2027.

*note – We have written extensively here at The Feed about the coming onslaught of data centers in planned or current construction across Texas. The implications for all Texans and the Texas electrical grid should not be underestimated.

The NATiVE Take

None of this changes the fundamentals for a well-engineered residential and commercial-scale solar+battery storage project: interconnection, permitting, and system design still come down primarily to the specifics of your site, utility, and load profile. But a few things are worth planning around directly. If you’re developing or operating larger commercial battery storage, HB 3809’s decommissioning and financial-assurance requirements and HB 3824’s fire safety standards are now real compliance items. We’ll work with our clients to build them into project budgets and timelines rather than treating them as an afterthought. The setback and permitting bills that failed in 2025 are, per industry analysts, likely to be refiled when the 90th Legislature convenes in January 2027.  That’s probably not a reason to delay a project today. We can mostly move forward with confidence while the current regulatory environment holds, while keeping an eye on this space as pre-filing opens later this year and the session approaches…

As we’ve often mentioned here, we track Texas solar storage legislation closely because it directly affects what we can build and when. If you’re evaluating a commercial solar or battery storage project and want to understand how any of this legal stuff applies to your specific site, get in touch and we’ll walk through it.

This article summarizes legislative outcomes from the 89th Texas Legislature (concluded June 2025) plus 2026 interim committee activity and rulemaking as of August 2026, and is for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Consult a qualified attorney or your local jurisdiction for guidance on how any specific bill, charge, or rule applies to your project. We’ll continue to update this piece as the 90th Legislature approaches.