“The thermal plants have bounced up and down,” Lewin told CNN, saying thermal plant outages during heatwaves have been high by Texas grid manager ERCOT’s own standards. Renewables have been a lifeline for the Texas grid as some older thermal plants - which run on coal, natural gas, and nuclear - have gone offline throughout the summer, according to Texas energy expert Doug Lewin, founder of consulting firm Stoic Energy. Solar has been generating a lot of energy during the day when the sun is beating down, and wind has been performing well during the evening hours. Wind and solar have been working well in tandem, Webber said. “It’s operating so well at peak times.”Īs temperatures soared into the triple-digits on Wednesday, renewable energy was providing 30 to 40 per cent of the power the state needed, according to analysis of state data from Texas energy expert Doug Lewin.Īnd as the state struggled through an early heatwave in June, non-fossil fuel power including renewables and nuclear made up 55 per cent of total generation on June 28 and 29 and close to 50 per cent of the power needed during the evening peak, according to statistics from the federal Energy Information Administration. “Renewables have been performing very well this summer, which is great,” Michael Webber, an energy expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told CNN. Thank wind and solar, energy experts say. But the power has stayed on and prices haven’t spiked tremendously. As Texas bakes under a sweltering heat dome this summer and people crank their air conditioners, the state’s energy demand has smashed records.
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