Triple Threat to Texas Power Grid Will Keep It Vulnerable
A population surge, climate change and the energy transition will keep the state's electricity supply under pressure on hot summer evenings.
Texas narrowly skirted a state-wide power emergency on Wednesday.
Photographer: Jordan Vonderhaar/Bloomberg via Getty Images
One way to think about the near miss Texas’ power grid had on Wednesday evening is as a form of growing pains. The state’s population increased by almost 800,000 between 2020 and 2022, the equivalent of adding an entire North Dakota or about 45% of the growth in the overall US population. Meanwhile, Texas’ manufacturing and the all-important oil and gas industry have rebounded from the pandemic.
Little wonder that the all-time top 10 days of demand on the state’s power grid have occurred this year. The number one day, August 10, saw a maximum load of 85.6 gigawatts, according to Grid Status, a data provider. That is more than 10 gigawatts higher than the pre-pandemic peak in 2019, and more than 20 gigawatts higher than the peak in 2018. “I’ve covered power markets for almost 25 years and never seen load growth like this ever before, not even close,” says Andy DeVries, a veteran utilities analyst at CreditSights.