How did the grid handle the first heat wave?

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports that the Texas power grid is expected to sail through the first major heat wave of the year without issue, largely thanks to its diverse and growing mix of power plants and renewable energy. That’s an observation energy professionals closely following the Texas Legislature made with some irony, as state lawmakers have proposed numerous bills to constrain the very same renewable energy that’s expected to help keep the power grid afloat this week. “If there is not a crisis (this week), it’s in part because of these resources that right now get considered to be not important or not having very much value,” said Aaron Zubaty, CEO of Eolian, a California-based company with battery storage projects in Texas. Electricity demand increases during hot weather as Texans tend to crank up the air-conditioning when the heat arrives. And this week, extreme heat is expected to arrive unseasonably early: Temperatures are forecast in the mid-to-high 90s for the Houston area, while San Antonio and Austin could eclipse 100 degrees.

Electricity demand is also expected to be unseasonably high. In fact, power demand could set an all-time May record of 81 gigawatts Wednesday afternoon, according to forecasts from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the operator of the state’s main power grid. For comparison, the all-time power demand record on the ERCOT grid is 85.5 gigawatts, set during a record-shattering heat wave in August 2023. Still, ERCOT does not anticipate electricity shortages this week, spokesperson Trudi Webster said in an email statement. ERCOT’s main role is to ensure electricity supply matches demand at all times. It has the authority to order rotating blackouts to reduce power demand as a last resort. “The grid is operating under normal conditions, and we expect to have sufficient capacity to meet demand,” Webster said.As recently as three to four years ago, a similar May heat wave to the one Texas is seeing this week would’ve “almost certainly” brought a power grid emergency during the hottest afternoon hours, Stoic Energy Consulting president Doug Lewin wrote in his newsletter on Monday. Just two summers ago, a string of days with 80-plus gigawatts of power demand forced ERCOT to issue nearly a dozen requests for Texans to conserve electricity use to stave off rotating blackouts. What’s changed? The ERCOT grid has added more solar arrays to cushion the grid during the hottest hours, and more battery storage to help fossil fuel power plants fill in the gaps when solar power is unavailable, said Rob Allerman, a senior director at Enverus, an energy analytics company.