Austin, TX · 2.34M construction permits · May 1980 – Feb 2026
When the grid failed, Austin bought generators.
Every construction permit Austin has issued, read for what it says about solar, batteries, generators and the grid. The permit record shows who prepared after Winter Storm Uri, and who couldn't.
1st place, Urban Growth · NVIDIA DGX AITX Hackathon · Dec 202502 · The gap
Same storm, same city. Twelve generators on one side of town for every one on the other.
Westlake filed 12 times as many generator permits as East Austin. Backup power is permitted, inspected and paid for, so the permit record is also a record of who could afford it.
Raw permit counts for the two areas, not adjusted for household count.
Westlake
12×
East Austin
03 · The storage gap
Austin makes clean energy. It can't store it.
9:1
For every battery permit, the city has issued about nine solar permits: 26,075 solar installations against 2,874 batteries. Austin can power a sunny afternoon; very few homes can keep it for a February night.
permits issued, all time
04 · The whole picture
Most energy work in Austin is still air conditioning.
Next to everything else, new-energy permits are small. HVAC outnumbers solar almost three to one; EV chargers and batteries are a sliver. Each category can be filtered on the map.
permits by type, May 1980 – Feb 2026
Check the findings yourself.
Data: City of Austin Open Data · Open source on GitHub