According to the Dallas Morning News, ERCOT is predicting a new, all-time peak demand this summer, thanks to “a combination of hotter temperatures and growing number of large electricity users, like data centers.”
This summer’s peak load in predicted to climb as high as 92 gigawatts.
The past consecutive summers have seen peaks only as high as 84 to 95 gigawatts.
Despite this, ERCOT says there is still low risk of an emergency.
The power grid gained nearly 11 gigawatts of new capacity since last summer, the majority from battery storage and solar, and have the ability to shut off power to large consumers, like data centers and cryptocurrency miners, when “curtailment is needed.”
Even though the weather pattern is even more uncertain over the next few months due to El Niño, ERCOT says they prepared for a hot summer with temperatures comparable to 2023.
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