Three verified installers cover Houston, led by a local company with its Texas licence printed on its own site. The Houston-specific truth: people here buy solar as much for the outages as for the bills, so the battery is half the purchase, and because this is deregulated Texas, the retail plan behind your meter still sets what exports earn while CenterPoint runs the connection. Judge every bidder on storm math, not brochure sunshine.
Houston has a relationship with the electric grid that the rest of the country reads about in headlines. When hurricanes and derechos can take a neighborhood dark for days, a solar quote here is really a resilience quote: which circuits stay on, for how long, and what the roof hardware is rated to survive. The bill math still matters, and in deregulated Texas it runs through whichever retail plan you choose while CenterPoint delivers the power. These 3 companies answered both sides of that test with facts we could check.
Houston Buys Solar for the Outages, Not Just the Bills
- The battery is half the purchase. A grid-tied system without storage shuts off in a blackout, which is exactly when Houston wants it working. Decide which circuits must stay on, refrigeration, some cooling, medical equipment, and make every bidder size storage to that list in writing.
- The panel price still anchors at $2.44 per watt. Texas’s competitive installed price per the EcoGen Solar Cost Index puts a 7 kW array near $17,100 before storage. Keep panels and battery as separate named line items or the bids cannot be compared.
- Your plan, not a state rule, prices your exports. CenterPoint runs the wires and the interconnection queue, but the retail plan you pick sets the buyback. The proposal should name the plan and its export rate with a date, and with the federal residential credit ended for installations completed after December 31, 2025, that discipline carries more of the math than ever.
Our Houston Bench: Local, Texan, National
Sunshine Renewable Solutions
The hometown pick that makes checking easy: based on the South Loop with Texas Electrical Contractor licence 33531 printed on its own site, NABCEP company accreditation, and Tesla Powerwall plus Enphase credentials, which is the exact toolbox a backup-first market calls for. Ask for its recent CenterPoint interconnections and the battery sizing logic behind your quote.
Freedom Solar Power
The Texas heavyweight with a named Houston office on its own locations page and its licences, TECL 28621 and master electrician 332049, printed for anyone to check. Statewide scale means more crews on the road after a storm, when every installer’s phone rings at once; get its post-storm service commitments for Houston in writing, not in conversation.
Momentum Solar
The national option that keeps installation in-house across ten states including Texas. Scale can mean schedule certainty in a metro this size; the questions that keep it honest here are Houston-specific, a named local crew, its recent CenterPoint approvals, and who drives to your roof in year 6.
What Each Houston Pick Proves
Installer | Crew base | Proof on its own site | The storm-season ask |
|---|---|---|---|
Sunshine Renewable Solutions | Houston, South Loop | TECL 33531 + NABCEP | Battery sizing from your circuits |
Freedom Solar Power | Houston office, Austin HQ | TECL 28621 on its own site | Post-storm service terms |
Momentum Solar | National, TX operations | In-house crews | Recent CenterPoint approvals |
Your outage priorities, your current plan’s buyback and the fair price band all exist before the first sales visit. Enter your ZIP code and we will put them in one place for your address.
See what solar plus backup costs at your Houston address
Houston Quotes That Should Not Survive a Second Read
Five Answers Every Houston Bidder Owes You
Which circuits stay on in an outage, and for how long?
Which retail plan did you model, at what export rate?
What is my panel price per watt before storage?
What is your TECL number?
Where do the inverter and battery physically mount?
How We Rank Solar Companies
Rankings are built from what we can verify, never from who pays us. For Houston, five weighted factors:
Frequently Asked Questions
Sunshine Renewable Solutions, Freedom Solar Power and Momentum Solar make up our vetted Houston network for 2026. Sunshine ranks first as the local anchor: Houston-based with its TECL printed on its own site, NABCEP company accreditation and Tesla Powerwall certification for backup-first installs.
Texas’s competitive installed price is $2.44 per watt before incentives, per the EcoGen Solar Cost Index, so a 7 kW array lands near $17,100 before storage. Most Houston buyers add a battery, which raises the total but is the piece that keeps the lights on in an outage.
If outage protection is any part of why you are buying, yes: a standard grid-tied system shuts down in a blackout. Size the battery to the circuits you actually need, refrigeration, some cooling, medical devices, and make the runtime math part of the written proposal.
Houston is deregulated: CenterPoint delivers the power and runs the interconnection, while the retail plan you choose sets the buyback rate for your exports. Compare plans with solar buyback terms before you sign, and make the installer model the exact plan in the proposal.
Wind at the roofline and water at the equipment: attachment and racking specs should carry a real wind rating with an engineering letter behind them, and inverters and batteries should mount with your flood exposure in mind. Installers with Houston storm seasons behind them answer both in specifics.
Weighing the rest of the state? Our Texas company rankings carry the full market, the Fort Worth rankings walk the same deregulated math up north, and the Texas cost guide holds the arithmetic behind the $2.44 anchor.
Storm-ready is checkable, not a slogan. Enter your ZIP code and compare the installers that proved it.
Compare Houston installers we already verified
Sources
EcoGen America reviewed Public Utility Commission of Texas retail choice resources, CenterPoint Energy interconnection resources, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation licence lookup, installer base, licence and credential disclosures stated by the companies themselves, and federal tax guidance for this article. Sources were accessed August 14, 2026, unless another date is listed below.
- Public Utility Commission of Texas. Retail Electric Choice Resources. The state’s deregulated-market and plan-comparison resources. Accessed August 14, 2026.
- CenterPoint Energy. Distributed Generation Interconnection Resources. The delivery utility for Houston meters. Accessed August 14, 2026.
- Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. Electrical Contractor Licence Search. The state’s licence register. Accessed August 14, 2026.
- Sunshine Renewable Solutions. Company Base, Licence and Credential Disclosures. Installer-stated information, including TECL 33531. Accessed August 14, 2026.
- Freedom Solar Power. Company Locations and Licence Disclosures. Installer-stated information, including TECL 28621 and the Houston office. Accessed August 14, 2026.
- Momentum Solar. Company Service Area Resources. Installer-stated multi-state coverage information. Accessed August 14, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service (IRS). FAQs for Modification of Sections 25C, 25D, 25E, 30C, 30D, 45L, 45W and 179D under Public Law 119-21. Federal guidance confirming termination of the residential clean energy credit for installations completed after December 31, 2025. Accessed August 14, 2026.
