August 18, 2026: Base adds a new Austin buildout breadcrumb

Today is August 18, 2026.

Base Power’s clearest new operating evidence is not a giant launch announcement. It is a fresh Texas licensing breadcrumb and a cleaner public product picture.

The confirmed-primary item is a TDLR project filing for Base Power Met 3 Phase 2 at Met Center Building 3 in Austin. The filing shows a 21,400 square foot office-occupancy tenant finish-out, with review marked complete, a start date of August 3, 2026, and a completion date of March 12, 2027. That is real buildout paperwork, but it is still just paperwork clearance. It does not prove the site is occupied, fully commissioned, or producing batteries.

That distinction matters because, in this business, plan review is not throughput. A TDLR review-complete status means the plan review step is finished. It does not mean the building is open, occupied, or turning out installed systems. So the right read is: Base is still adding physical capacity on paper in Austin, but we do not yet have the next proof point that would tell us what that space is actually doing.

On the product side, Base’s public pages now show a broader lineup than a single battery size. The how-it-works page says it installs batteries from 25 kilowatt-hours to 50 kilowatt-hours, quotes 8 cents per kilowatt-hour plus delivery fees, and says the rate is locked for three years. Its hardware help article says the company offers 25 kWh, 39.2 kWh, and 50 kWh battery systems with an 11 kW inverter.

The most specific product detail is the 39.2 kWh single ground-mounted battery. Base’s spacing-requirements article says that is its newest battery and that it is still in a limited beta test in select areas. That is a useful signal, because it tells us the rollout is not yet uniform across all markets or all customers.

Base also updated its contract FAQ. For the 39.2 kWh battery, the agreement lasts 12 years, and cancellation can trigger a 500 dollar deinstallation fee. That is a company claim, but it is still important because it clarifies customer lock-in and churn friction more concretely than before.

Here is the plain-language mechanic to keep in mind: battery storage is valuable not just because it can power homes, but because it can change when electricity is consumed or delivered. In a utility program, the utility can dispatch the battery when the grid needs support, and the customer still gets backup power when the grid is out. That is why the operating question is not simply how many homes Base has signed. It is how much storage is installed, where it sits, and whether the utility can actually use it when needed.

On the utility side, the strongest public reference remains Austin Energy’s May 19 statement that it has an agreement with Base Power to deploy 40 MW of residential battery storage across its service territory, with Austin Energy managing dispatch and Base handling installation and maintenance. That is still the cleanest public utility-side capacity reference tied to Base, but it remains a company-linked partnership description rather than an independently verified installation count.

The ERCOT thread is still alive, but unresolved. ERCOT’s May 18 DSWG agenda included an ADER slash Base Power item and an ADER pilot governing-document update. That keeps the qualification and market-integration work in view, but there is still no public Base-specific ERCOT record here naming qualified megawatts, telemetry validation, or dispatched services.

There is also a staffing signal, though not a staffing result. Base’s Ashby board currently advertises a Utility Partnerships role in Austin focused on utility program execution, capacity targets, and dispatch readiness. That suggests ongoing investment in utility-side operations. It does not tell us whether a person has been hired.

So the scorecard for today is simple. Base is still fleshing out its product language, still signaling utility-program execution, and still expanding Austin buildout paperwork. But the two most important unresolved questions remain the same: what Base has actually qualified in ERCOT or PUCT records, and what its current deployment mix looks like between the 25 kWh, 39.2 kWh, and 50 kWh systems.

What to watch next: a TDLR inspection, certificate of occupancy, or electrical final tied to Met Center Building 3; any ERCOT or PUCT record naming Base resources or qualified MW; and any Base contract or installation document that shows which battery size is being installed most often.