Texas’ Refusal to Deal with Renewable Energy Continues to Harm Reliability on the Texas Grid

By Zachary Richter

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is warning Texas residents about a possible grid overload this weekend because of high temperatures.

ERCOT released a statement this week noting that unusually high temperatures will likely lead to an increased demand on the grid. While the organization did not request a curtailing of energy use, the warning pauses any maintenance on power plants to ensure power remains consistent. Texans have become familiar with uncertainty surrounding their lights turning on, and Energy Alliance Policy Director Bill Peacock said this is preventable.

“Texas’ refusal to deal with renewable energy subsidies continues to harm reliability on the Texas grid, and cost Texans billions of dollars,” Peacock said. “More than $66 billion has been invested in renewable energy in Texas over the last 20 years. If not for generators chasing the more than $22 billion of renewable subsidies, that money could have been invested in reliable generation that would have largely addressed the problem Texas is facing this weekend.”

Texas is expected to have hot temperatures this weekend, leading National Weather Service meteorologist Kent Prochazka to tell Austin FOX affiliate KTBC that Texas could see new high temperature records set. This has raised concerns over grid instability, particularly following the ERCOT release. 

“Everyone [is] on notice,” Stoic Energy President Doug Lewin said, according to KTBC. “We’re going to need every megawatt hour we can get.”

“ERCOT is anticipating extreme hot weather in the region Friday, May 6 through Monday, May 9 and may experience larger than normal demand for power,” a spokesperson from ERCOT said, according to Austin Journal. “ERCOT will deploy all the tools available to us to manage the grid reliably. ERCOT is coordinating closely with the Public Utility Commission, generation resource owners and transmission utilities to ensure they are prepared for the extreme heat. ERCOT has asked power plants across the region to postpone planned outages and to return from outages already in progress in order to serve Texans this weekend. At this time, ERCOT projects there will be sufficient generation to meet this high demand for electricity.”

“If we see triple digits drag into Monday, we’ll probably be pretty close to the edge to whether we have enough [power] supply for demand,” Lewin said, KTBC reported. “It’s this time of year when we’re clear of winter storms, and we think we’re clear of really severe heat waves, that we take off the power plants for planned maintenance. No one wants those plants off for maintenance in the middle of July.”

The Austin Journal noted that Texans can try to lower their energy bills by letting their thermostats run a bit higher during the afternoon and early evening and unplugging any appliances or electronics that are not in use.

This story originally ran in the Austin Journal.