Texas ‘Hotter Than 99 Percent of the Planet,’ Power Grid Breaks Record

Power lines are seen during a heat wave with expected temperatures of 102 F (39 C) in Dallas, Texas, U.S. June 12, 2022. REUTERS/Shelby Tauber/File Photo

As Texas grapples with high temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Fahrenheit, electricity demand in the state has hit a new record, putting the power grid under pressure.

An “Excessive Heat Warning” is in effect in Texas until 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) Fort Worth/Dallas. In a June 24 tweet, meteorologist Ben Noll predicted that “large parts of Texas will be hotter than 99 percent of the planet during the peak of the heatwave” on Wednesday. For Thursday, the NWS has issued a heat advisory that will be applicable for a good portion of Texas, mostly the Western regions. “Triple-digit high temperatures can be expected, and heat indices will climb into the 105 to 110 degree range within the advisory area Thursday afternoon.”

The heat is only expected to “gradually ease” heading into the weekend and into the next week. Scattered showers and storms are only expected by Monday.

Electricity use has spiked amidst the heat. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the state’s power grid operator, saw preliminary power use hit 80,828 megawatts (MW) on Tuesday, breaking the previous record of 80,148 MW set in July last year. ERCOT is forecasting the latest record to be potentially broken on Wednesday.

In a June 23 press release, ERCOT had issued a “Weather Watch” in effect between June 25 and 30 due to “forecasted higher temperatures and higher electrical demand.”

Some experts blame the renewable energy push for the tight energy situation facing the state.

In an interview with The Epoch Times in July last year, David Blackmon, an independent energy analyst and consultant based in Mansfield, Texas, pointed out that the state’s electricity supply problem came due to depending on unreliable energy like wind. He blamed Democratic policies for stifling oil and gas production.

ERCOT, which manages the flow of electric power to over 26 million customers in Texas, also issued a “voluntary conservation notice” on June 20, asking Texas citizens to “voluntarily reduce electricity use, if safe to do so, due to extreme temperatures and forecasted record demand.”

In addition to the extreme heat and record demand, ERCOT also cited thermal outages as well as dependence on solar and wind power as reasons customers should reduce electricity usage.

“Solar generation declines into the evening hours, before completely going offline at sunset,” it said while adding that current wind generation is lower compared to “historic performance during summer peak.”

Harmed By Renewable Energy Push

Texas’ struggle with meeting electricity demand has been going on for a few years. In 2022, ERCOT asked residents to conserve electricity on July 11 due to a predicted shortage in reserve capacity. At the time, the agency had said that wind turbines were to produce less than 10 percent of their capacity.

Local officials pushed back against federal attempts that would harm the state’s energy stability. In a May 22 letter (pdf) to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham raised alarm about a draft rule proposed by the agency regarding carbon pollution standards for natural gas and coal-fired power plants.

The draft rule mandates that most such power plants capture 90 percent of emissions by 2035 and convert to hydrogen three years later by 2038. The rule “is nothing more than a blatant attack on the domestic oil and gas industry,” the letter said.

The proposed rule will “burden our natural gas-fired plants with untenable restrictions to compel their closure or conversion to a fuel source like green hydrogen.”

It will also present “an undue burden on the State’s critical energy supply and the Texas industry at a time when U.S. power consumption requirements are expected to increase by 12 to 22 percent between now and 2030.”

In March this year, GOP Senators unveiled nine bills aimed at limiting the construction of renewable energy projects in Texas while incentivizing investments in power plants fired by natural gas.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican Sen. Charles Schwertner stated that the bills have bipartisan support and that the most critical thing for Texas is to ensure the reliability of the electricity grid even if the sun is not shining and the wind stops blowing.