The clean energy industry made record contributions to the electric grid in Texas, powering — and cooling — Americans’ homes while keeping costs low during the most recent heatwave, according to an American Clean Power (ACP) analysis and the latest data available.
Between June 19 and June 30, renewable resources delivered an average of 30% of the electric grid’s power needs during the peak 10% of demand hours. This includes the all-time record for demand on ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Strong renewable generation throughout the heatwave helped sustain the grid and kept electricity prices down.
“Our industry’s investment in solar, wind and storage in ERCOT has paid off for Texans during this heatwave,” said Jason Grumet, ACP CEO. “Clean power is keeping the lights on at an affordable cost, cooling homes and businesses and keeping people safe. The performance of renewable resources during this extreme weather event demonstrate the importance of resource diversity to grid resilience and economic security.”
News item from ACP
“Between June 19 and June 30, renewable resources delivered an average of 30% of the electric grid’s power needs during the peak 10% of demand hours. This includes the all-time record for demand on ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Strong renewable generation throughout the heatwave helped sustain the grid and kept electricity prices down.”
Interesting, during the ice storm in February 2021 during Winter storm Uri, governor Abbot mouthed off about how wind generation and solar PV failed, while it was actually frozen gas fuel lines that took down natural gas generation plants. Why hasn’t Abbot weighed in on how solar PV and wind generation has (helped) stabalize the grid during heat waves? ERCOT or the energy providers under the ERCOT umbrella are not talking about what it would look like if Texas started saving electric generation during the solar PV harvest portion of the day and dispatch this energy during high demands on the grid or after the sun goes down. This obsequious tethering to fueld capacity generation is destroying value of the ERCOT grid and cost the ratepayers in Texas far more than they should pay for electricity on any given day. In Texas what would say 2 million roofs with solar PV do on average everyday and combined with residential aggregate smart ESS would do to smooth out and regulate the grid?
Why does it have to be so hard?