The article in the url below deals with a complex topic – the independent (and highly flawed, from what I can see) electricity utility that has been structured in Texas; specifically, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (or Ercot). While I am not qualified to comment in detail on that, I think the article is interesting for two reasons – first, this past summer, the Texas grid needed to rely on renewable energy in order to meet peak demand, for the first time:
"This is the first summer where Texas has needed renewables to meet peak demand, which is usually during daylight hours when the sun is strong, and then bring back-up generation (mostly in the form of natural gas) online to fill the resulting dip in solar output quickly at sunset."
Second, the impending impact of a solar eclipse on October 14 on the ability to generate solar energy in Texas, and the deferred impact that will have on the grid and energy supply, as a whole:
"A major one coming up is an Oct. 14 solar eclipse, which will force almost all of the grid's solar farms to stop generating electricity in the middle of the day. … The sun will begin to darken at 10:15 a.m. US Central time and end by 1:40 p.m. The areas of greatest occlusion will be across a stretch from West Texas to the southeast part of the Gulf Coast, though the entire state will be impacted. At its peak, 76% to 90% of the sun will be obscured depending on the location. That will result in solar panels having only 13% of 'clear sky capability' at the height of the eclipse at 11:50 a.m., an Ercot executive said during a stakeholder presentation Thursday."
The eclipse is due to affect over 50% of the solar electricity generating capacity of the Texas grid:
"Ercot currently has about 22 gigawatts of solar generating capacity, of which almost 13 gigawatts have been operating during the sunniest times of the day this week."
Take care
David
David Chandler
© Sage Publications, 2023
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The Texas grid two step
By Naureen S. Malik
September 8, 2023
Bloomberg
