Summary: Texas officials expect a much lighter load for the state’s largest power grid in the coming months, and are planning to use the fall for generator maintenance postponed during the summer heatwave. [Editorial Note: This article is well-sourced and well-detailed. Worth carefully reading. WPC is providing excerpts.]
Latest Update: Friday, 09 September, 2022 additional research.
Tags: #Electricity
The Texan
07 September, 2022
Editorial Note: This article is well-sourced and well-detailed. Worth carefully reading. WPC is providing excerpts below.
Texas officials expect a much lighter load for the state’s largest power grid in the coming months, and are planning to use the fall for generator maintenance postponed during the summer heatwave.
In its Fall 2022 Seasonal Assessment, a report issued previewing the coming seasonal change, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) expects the fall peak demand to reach 64,928 megawatts (MW) during October and November. One MW can power about 200 homes during peak demand hours.
That projection is 16 percent below the peak demand projection made by ERCOT for this summer and 20 percent below the actual peak demand record set on July 20.
ERCOT expects to have 93,492 MW of capacity available during peak demand periods this fall, a slight increase from what they projected to have available at peak demand during the summer. That expected peak capacity is 68 percent of the total installed generation capacity. Much of this increase comes from additional battery storage capacity, the electricity for which is generally generated by renewable sources
By source, 68 percent of the capacity of 93,492 MW is from thermal generation (natural gas, coal, and nuclear), while 15 is from wind and 9 is from solar.
“Going into the fall, we have sufficient resources to meet demand for power, and we’re very excited to welcome ERCOT’s new president and CEO, Pablo Vegas back to Texas in October,” Lake added.
Vegas, an Ohio utility executive, was announced last month as the permanent CEO for the ERCOT grid and will start on October 1. He will be paid a $990,000 salary, along with a medley of other payments and performance-based bonuses, to oversee the state’s largest power grid.
The other significant news on the power grid front occurred on September 1, when the state’s Energy Plan Advisory Committee released its final report on the power grid and energy industry. The report is a review of the grid and surrounding energy industry ordered by the Texas Legislature as part of its post-2021 blackout reforms.
“[A] key problem the committee identified,” wrote the committee in its executive summary, “is how Texas can best adapt to the changing electric generation resource mix and support market-based incentives to ensure that the generation resource supply is adequate, resilient, and poised to support the continued economic growth in this state and the Texans who rely on reliable electric power in their homes and businesses.”
The state is facing a substantial shift in its energy and electricity industry. The influx of renewable generation spurred on by substantial federal tax incentives has created an increasing reliance on those intermittent sources.
On the market side of things, that “distortion” caused by the federal and local incentives is the foremost consideration by the PUC, which is currently considering its post-blackout market reforms.
Research:
Texas grid reforms continue as ERCOT says it can meet peak demands during fall season, The Center Square, 07 September, 2022
[end]
Comentarios