Electric Reliability Council of Texas officials forecasted a peak load of roughly 92.2 gigawatts at their June 2 quarterly board meeting. That projection represents a 10.2% year-over-year increase and a 7.8% increase from the state’s previous record demand in 2023.“The weather profile that we are likely to see over the next few months is a little more even uncertain than usual,” ERCOT Vice President of System Operations Dan Woodfin said at the meeting. Temperatures in Texas could reach 2023 peaks, depending on the state’s rain forecast. Heat spikes energy usage as consumers turn down the knobs on their air conditioners.
Energy use in Texas is also on the rise because of the rollout of AI data centers across the state. ERCOT received 519 requests in the last two years to connect large data centers to its grid, compared to 24 such requests the previous year. ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas told the Texas Tribune that his utility was experiencing “an unprecedented change in the pace of growth.”
Texas is also the fourth-fastest-growing state by percentage growth, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That population explosion, which further strains the state’s electrical grid, is driven by a strong labor market and affordable home prices compared to other states.
