TEXAS EDITORIAL ROUNDUP
Transmission lines are to energy reliability as good roads and highways are to economic growth. Without the infrastructure in place, growth and prosperity are at risk.
Pablo Vegas, the chief executive of the Texas Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s power grid operator, warned that the shortfall of electricity transmission could impede new investment in Texas and take years to rectify.
ERCOT recently increased its forecast for electricity needed to support new large-scale users from 111 gigawatts to 152 gigawatts, a 37% increase to 2030. It is the latest indication of how the state’s explosive industrial growth continues to add to the already substantial power demands from population growth. Toward that end, the grid operator and the Public Utility Commission are more actively planning for the long-term impact of large, new industrial facilities on electricity consumption and transmission.
This is an important rethinking of forecasting power requirements statewide. A recent history of blistering hot days and damaging cold snaps has created valid concerns that the grid remains vulnerable to extreme weather events. Power usage set all-time highs during the past two summers and is expected to do the same this summer, a prediction based in part on energy trading prices that signal more stress on the grid as temperatures soar.
Texas continues to benefit from a relatively cheap mix of solar, wind and natural gas power that have made the state an attractive destination for large industrial facilities such as power-sucking data centers, bitcoin mining, hydrogen-related manufacturing and oil and gas production in the Permian Basin. The flip side is that the energy infrastructure has to keep pace.
In recent sessions, lawmakers have tried to tilt energy policy in favor of fossil fuels and against renewables at a time when the state’s economic vitality depends on its ability to add power from natural gas generation, solar, wind and batteries that can flexibly dispatch stored power when needed to avert energy emergencies.
For example, battery usage recently exceeded 2,000 megawatts for only the second time, accounting for a record of 4% of the total load, according to energy expert Doug Lewin. And on one day in late February, the power grid moved 82.8% carbon- free power, 71.2% of which was provided by renewables, a mix that underscores the importance of diverse and cleaner energy sources.
The bottom line is that Texas’ growth depends on state policy staying ahead of the demands brought on by a pro-growth economic environment. Texas’ free market approach to energy competition has served it well but isn’t without challenges. Lawmakers must recommit to improve the reliability of the grid, support diversified power sources without undue favor and make sure that ample supplies of electricity are produced and efficiently delivered to homes and industries statewide.
