Why It Matters: Data behind the current power crisis in Texas will have far reaching implications on how the state and the U.S. tackle power and renewables going forward.
In this update, we have used the power data Lium regularly collects from ERCOT and the EIA to add some perspective on the current electricity crisis in Texas. Initial takeaways have been:
- All power sources have disappointed to some degree
- Wind generation has been especially poor and
- The natural gas ramp has been impressive, despite shortfalls and a big crash early am Monday
ERCOT NET GENERATION
- Early Monday morning, Natural Gas power generation suddenly dropped 10 GW after tripling capacity to over 35 GW the previous seven days
- Coal generation also deteriorated through Monday morning while Nuclear suddenly lost >1 GW of generation around 7am
- Wind generation had already been slow the previous weekend and continued to get worse through Monday / Tuesday (down 8 GW vs prior week)
- Altogether, ERCOT probably needed at least another 17 GW of generation to meet extreme demand over the last two days
- In a hypothetical scenario, the ERCOT shortfall could have been met if Natural Gas, Coal, and Nuclear were operating at summer peak levels (+9 GW) and Wind was operating at its typical February rate (+8 GW)
