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

Updated September 26, 2026 · About 6 minutes

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

Battery sites follow NFPA 855, the National Fire Protection Association's standard for stationary energy storage, 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 that begin commercial operation on or after January 1, 2027 (Texas Department of Insurance; BillTrack50). Under the law:

The Commissioner of Insurance adopts fire safety standards based on nationally recognized standards such as UL 9540A testing and the 2023 or later edition of NFPA 855 (House bill analysis).
Operators must write site-specific emergency operations plans covering risks, hazard mitigation, shutdown, emergency response, and communication with first responders (BillTrack50).
Operators must get third-party safety evaluations before the facility starts and every five years after, give documents to local authorities, and offer free training to local first responders (BillTrack50).
The State Fire Marshal enforces the rules and can impose administrative penalties (BillTrack50).

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

The law bars cities and counties from adopting safety regulations that conflict with the state's (BillTrack50). Counties can still ask to be notified early and review what operators must provide. In Kerr County, for example, the State Fire Marshal's Office briefed commissioners on NFPA 855 in January 2025, and the county said it would ask to be notified early about proposed projects (Citizen Portal report).

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.

Check a spot

Click your land on the map to get its free land report: flood zone, wetlands, nearest power line, soils, survey location, and the half-mile, 500-acre standout test. In Texas, parcel acreage fills in automatically.

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 Texas Department of Insurance, the House bill analysis, and bill summaries 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.