Bill Peacock, policy director of The Energy Alliance, recently criticized the number of state funds that Texas has invested into renewable energy sources in a July 11 tweet.
“Context: generators have spent about $56 billion building wind farms in Texas,” Peacock said. “The 8% projected capacity of wind peak demand tomorrow means about $51.5 billion of that investment was waste; if that amount had been put into natural gas generation, there wouldn’t be a problem.”
Peacock’s criticism came as leaders of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) struggled to meet recent demand, with wind energy estimated to have only produced just 8% of its generation capacity.
On July 11, ERCOT utilized reserve power to meet demand after urging Texans to limit their power use to prevent overburdening the system, according to an ERCOT public notice.
ERCOT halted its emergency power deployment on the evening of July 11 after the risk of an emergency had passed.
The Houston Chronicle reports that from July 9-11, Texas surpassed temperature and energy consumption records, with peak power demand exceeding 77,400 megawatts on July 11, beating a record set on July 9.
One megawatt provides enough energy to power approximately 200 houses in one day during the summer, according to the Houston Chronicle.
ERCOT, which oversees a grid that covers over 26 million consumers, or roughly 90% of the state’s power load, has repeatedly claimed that the agency has the capacity to satisfy demand. During its annual seasonal assessment in May, ERCOT estimated that power usage in the summer would reach a peak of 77,317 megawatts in mid-August. Peak demand, however, has already exceeded this estimate.
According to the Houston Chronicle, this high is due in part to unprecedented temperatures that began in May and have continued into July. The National Service reports that San Antonio reached 105 degrees, while Houston reached a high of 104 degrees, breaking a 1998 record of 101 degrees on July 10.
