Battery storage fire safety in Texas: the 2025 law and your land

Updated October 22, 2026 · About 6 minutes

General information, not a substitute for the advice of an attorney.

Battery storage is the fastest-growing kind of energy project in Texas, and fire safety is the question neighbors and county officials ask first. In 2025, Texas passed a statewide law setting the rules. Here is what it requires and what it means if a battery site is proposed on or near your land.

The national standard: NFPA 855

NFPA 855 is the National Fire Protection Association's standard for stationary energy storage, used along with the National Electrical Code. These address fire safety, ventilation, and emergency planning, and NFPA 855 calls for fire detection and suppression depending on a system's size and type (Texas Department of Insurance). Where the State Fire Marshal's Office has jurisdiction, NFPA 855 applies to systems above its size thresholds, and each operator must have an emergency operations plan with safe shutdown procedures, firefighting considerations, and annual staff training (Texas Department of Insurance).

The 2025 Texas law: Utilities Code Chapter 187

House Bill 3824 created a new chapter of the Utilities Code on battery energy storage facility safety (Texas Department of Insurance). It applies to facilities of 1 megawatt-hour or more whose commercial operations date, as determined under state rules, is on or after January 1, 2027 (Utilities Code 187.002; Texas Department of Insurance). Under the law:

• The Commissioner of Insurance adopts fire safety standards based solely on nationally recognized UL Solutions and NFPA standards, such as UL 9540A testing and the 2023 or later edition of NFPA 855 (Senate Research Center bill analysis).
• Operators must write site-specific emergency operations plans covering risks, hazard mitigation, shutdown, emergency response, and communication with first responders, and give the plan to local first responders before the facility starts operating (Utilities Code 187.004; Senate Research Center bill analysis).
• If the city asks (or the county, for a site outside city limits), the operator must pay for an independent engineer to evaluate the facility before it starts operating. Every operator must get an independent fire safety inspection at least every five years and give the report to the city or county (Utilities Code 187.003).
• Operators must offer local first responders free education and annual training (Senate Research Center bill analysis).
• The State Fire Marshal enforces the rules, under a schedule of administrative penalties set by the Commissioner of Insurance (Utilities Code 187.005; Senate Research Center bill analysis).

The Texas Department of Insurance and the State Fire Marshal's Office were drafting the rules in 2026 and invited public comment (Texas Department of Insurance).

What counties can and cannot do

Unless another statute allows it, cities and counties cannot adopt or enforce rules inconsistent with the state's design, installation, operation, and safety standards (Utilities Code 187.003(d)). Counties keep two concrete rights: for sites outside city limits, the county can require the pre-operation engineering review, and it receives the five-year inspection reports (Utilities Code 187.003).

What this means for a landowner

The state now sets the safety rules, so your lease is where you protect your own interests: where the batteries sit relative to your home, livestock, and water; access for fire trucks; and who pays if something goes wrong. See battery storage leases in Texas for payments and footprint, and decommissioning law for removal and recycling.

Questions to ask before signing

• Will this facility be covered by Chapter 187, and when do you expect it to start operating?
• Can I get a copy of the emergency operations plan and the third-party safety evaluation?
• Where will the batteries sit relative to my home, barns, livestock, and water wells?
• How will fire trucks reach the site, and has the local fire department been trained?
• What insurance covers damage to my property, and am I named as an additional insured?
• How is firefighting water or runoff contained?

Summarized from the enrolled bill, the Texas Department of Insurance, and the Senate Research Center bill analysis linked above. Rules under Chapter 187 were still being written in 2026; check the Texas Department of Insurance for the current version. General information, not legal advice.

Related: Battery storage leases · Check whether a project is real

Sources and helpful links

• Texas Department of Insurance tdi.texas.gov
• Texas Department of Insurance tdi.texas.gov
• Utilities Code 187.002 capitol.texas.gov
• Senate Research Center bill analysis capitol.texas.gov

More official contacts and resources: Helpful links.