DALLAS — Texas set a record high for energy demand Wednesday, with ERCOT recording a peak of 81,429 MW as temperatures across the state hit 100-degree temperatures or higher.
That mark breaks the previous record set on June 27 of 80,828 MW.
“Everybody’s AC is going to be going flat out in temperatures this hot,” Alison Silverstein, an energy consultant, said. “When you combine extraordinarily high heat with extraordinarily high population and economic activity all those air conditioners are humming and they’re driving peak demand up.”
Silverstein previously worked at both the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Texas Public Utility Commission. She said renewables are a key reason the strain isn’t creating outages across the state.
“The solar is particularly important because when it’s hottest outside, it’s because the sun is shining,” she said.
Solar is growing fast, too. At the end of 2021, solar capacity was 7,600 megawatts, according to ERCOT data. Now, it’s more than 17,000 MW, more than double that mark.
That 10,000 MW difference is enough to power roughly 2 million homes. About 3,000 MW of the total capacity comes from rooftop units.
“The more different kinds of diversity we have of fuel supply, of technology dependence, of location, the better we are,” she said.
She attributed the significant growth in solar to the fact the cost to both build panels and install them has dropped exponentially, and they can also be built in locations as small as rooftops as opposed to large wind farms, which require a significant amount of space.
“We can’t just keep adding population and adding generation,” she said. “The most important resource that Texas is not adding is energy efficiency.”
Silverstein said efficiency opportunities like better air conditioning units and weatherized homes are the real key to reducing demand and costs along with automation for thermostats so that demand doesn’t peak at once across the state.
“Commercial customers are doing that every day,” she said. “You see how the demand flattens in particular hours when prices are highest because they have that capability.”
New gas plants are also coming online, but solar and wind are growing quicker than even demand.
“We have a record number of renewables operating in Texas today,” Silverstein said. “That’s saving us extraordinary amounts of money for our wallets.”