Texas electricity use jumped to an all-time high again as temperatures soar, but solar and wind power are keeping the lights on.
Power demand rose to about 81.4 gigawatts at 4:55 p.m. local time on Wednesday, surpassing the June 27 record of about 81 gigawatts, according to grid data compiled by Bloomberg News.
The fragile electric power grid in Texas, which collapsed in a February 2021 winter storm, is being tested again as the second-biggest US state faces temperatures above 100F. As consumers run their air conditioning all at once, it puts stress on the grid, risking potentially deadly outages. But the sunny day and strong winds are fueling both solar and wind power, exceeding expected summer output Wednesday afternoon, according to data from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the grid operator. That’s helping keep the grid from failing.
Read More: Why the Texas Power Grid Is Facing Another Crisis: QuickTake
Spot electricity prices in Houston jumped to about $1,372-a megawatt-hour at 4:30 p.m. local time, around 16-fold higher than the $84 at the same time Tuesday.
Demand will need to stay at elevated levels for an entire hour for Ercot to register it as a new record. Power usage hit an hourly record of more than 80.8 gigawatts on June 27.
(Adds spot electricity prices in fourth paragraph)
Author: Naureen S. Malik
