The electric grid operator for most of Texas called for voluntary conservation on Sunday evening — the second time in several days — as temperatures soared and the system experienced an “unexpected loss of thermal generation.”
“Texans are asked to voluntarily reduce electric use, if safe to do so,” the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said in a Sunday announcement requesting conservation between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time. The grid operator noted that the grid “is not currently in emergency operations.”
Sunday was the third call for voluntary conservation this summer. Officials also called on customers to reduce electricity use on Thursday, and in June, as temperatures hit triple digits around the state
Despite rising peak demand in sweltering temperatures, ERCOT’s system has operated smoothly this summer. At the direction of lawmakers, utility regulators made adjustments to the state’s electricity markets and in June the grid operator launched a new contingency reserve service to maintain reliability. The state is also considering spending billions to develop new gas-fired generation.
Efficiency advocates, however, say Texas continues to underinvest in demand-side solutions that could help to reduce grid stress while also lowering customers’ monthly power bills.
Creating or expanding 10 utility energy efficiency and demand response programs from 2024 to 2030 could reduce summer peak loads by about 14,800 MW, according to a white paper published in May by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
Those 10 programs would cost about $1.2 billion annually, which ACEEE said was “substantially below” the up to $18 billion in estimated capital costs for a proposed ERCOT generation program that would add about 10,000 MW of new supply.
On Wednesday, ACEEE updated that analysis to illustrate how a smaller investment could provide about 80% of the peak load reductions at roughly half the cost.
“While we hope that policymakers will seriously consider the full set of programs, we also identified a more limited set of programs that in our view would be the highest priority if only more limited funding were available,” according to the ACEEE white paper.
The limited set of programs includes replacing electric furnaces with heat pumps, installing heat pump water heaters and smart thermostats, and the development of demand response programs to manage electric vehicle charging, central air-conditioning and electric heat.
“Overall, this subset of programs will by 2030 reduce summer and winter peak generating requirements by about 13,200 MW and 24,400 MW, respectively,” ACEEE concluded. "Energy savings are 60% of the full package, while costs are $705 million per year on average (less in early years, more in later years), which is 56% of the costs of the full package.”
Power demand in Texas is expected to grow. ERCOT peak load has risen 9% over the last four years, ACEEE noted in its analysis. The state’s population has grown to 30 million in 2022 from about 21.7 million in 2002, according to state statistics and the U.S. Census.
“To be clear, overall electricity use very much needs to increase in Texas. We need to electrify as much transportation and heat — both in buildings and in the industrial sector — as we possibly can,” energy analyst and Stoic Energy President Doug Lewin wrote Thursday on his substack analyzing the Texas power market. Managing flexible loads, such as electric vehicles or hydrogen production, can help ensure the grid remains reliable, he said.
“If we manage the peak well, then all of Texas will benefit, economically and environmentally,” Lewin wrote.
