A year ago, 10 million Texans lost power in a winter storm. The state has resisted a...
At the depth of the crisis, more than half of ERCOT’s winter generating capacity was unavailable because equipment failed or natural gas to power plants was cut off after gas wells and processing facilities froze, causing statewide gas production to fall almost in half. In a situation like that, it would be good to be in a position to get help from neighbors.
Had Texas been connected to the eastern or western grid or both last year, it is likely there still would have been some rolling blackouts but not the sustained multiple-day power outages that hit some areas. That interconnection could help prop up Texas when power is scarce, and Texas could do the same for other states in return.Interconnection would also help accelerate the transition to cleaner forms of energy.
But in 2020, ERCOT already had more than 100,000 megawatts of installed electricity-generating capacity — of which about a third was wind and solar. Peak demand for electricity in Texas on a hot summer afternoon or cold winter morning is about 75,000 megawatts. That means that for much of the year, Texas wind and solar developers could have excess power to sell to other states that want clean power for their ongoing needs or to operate flexible industrial demands.
I’ve calculated that clean energy flowing from parts of Texas could help retire coal and natural gas plants elsewhere in the state and in other states, reducing annual carbon dioxide emissions by 100 million tons or more. And ERCOT’s total planned development, if realized, could unleash a wave of investment and innovation from entrepreneurs, project developers and venture firms like the one I work at that could result, by my calculations, in some $10 billion in new electricity sales annually.
Texans could sell clean renewable power for a profit while helping other states decarbonize and improving reliability for the next big storm.
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