ERCOT Braces for Record Demand Amid Texas Heat Wave

Electricity demand in Texas reached 80,100 megawatts on June 26, close to the all-time record of 80,148 megawatts set last July, due to persistent triple digit temperatures. Despite the surging demand, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has said there is enough electricity supply to meet demand through the period. ERCOT has issued a weather watch through the end of the week, and in its seasonal summer report released in May, predicted peak summer demand would reach 82,739 megawatts. On Monday afternoon, just over half of the electricity on the grid came from natural gas fired power plants with another 20 percent coming from coal and nuclear plants, while around 11 percent came from wind power and another 14 percent came from the state’s rapidly growing fleet of utility-scale solar farms.