(CNN) Texas is cranking on air conditioning this week amid an unusually early heat wave, setting new records for electricity demand in the state, which exceeded 75 gigawatts on Sunday and broke the 2019 record. Texas grid operator ERCOT suggests it could approaching that peak again on Tuesday.
But unlike previous extreme weather events in Texas that led to fatal blackouts, the net is standing very well this week. Some experts told CNN it owes much to strong wind and solar performances, which generated 27 gigawatts of electricity during Sunday’s peak demand – close to 40% of the total required.
“Texas, according to rhetoric, is anti – renewable materials. But in reality, renewable energy is putting pressure on us,” said Michael Webber, an energy expert and professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “They’re rocking. That really spares us a lot of heartache and a lot of money.”
Despite Texas Republican rhetoric that wind and solar are unreliable, Texas has a huge and growing fleet of renewable energy. About 38% of the state’s power was powered by zero-carbon (wind, solar and nuclear) electricity sources in 2021, competing with natural gas at 42%.
This is a relatively new phenomenon for the state.
“Wind and solar have not been available in recent years, so growing capacity helps alleviate dependence on natural gas and coal,” said Jonathan DeVilbiss, operations research analyst at the Energy Information Administration of SA.
Renewable sources not only helped to keep power running during truncation and early heat waves, they also helped keep costs low. Prices for natural gas and coal are high amid a global energy crisis, but renewable sources – powered by wind and solar – have no fuel cost.
“Because the price of wind and solar has not doubled in the past year like other resources, they are acting as a hedge against high fuel prices,” said Joshua Rhodes, an energy researcher at UT Austin.
Peak demand during peak heat
Texas and other states are sweltering in three-digit temperatures and dangerous heat indices. Texas state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon told CNN that San Antonio was a particularly hot spot; it recently hit 102. Read also : Inhibiting thermal quenching of high-efficiency quasi-2D perovskite LEDs.5 degrees Fahrenheit, setting a new pre – July record.
Texas used to heat up, but this year they are “getting August weather in May and June,” Webber told CNN.
Experts said the Texas grid was built to withstand the extreme heat more than the extreme cold brought by the deadly winter storm of 2021. But with the state now experiencing temperatures like August in early June many questioned whether the grid could Texas withstood longer and warmer summers inspired by climate change.
“Compared to a winter storm, we were built for three months of 90-plus [steps],” said Caitlin Smith, head of regulatory and communications policy at Texas-based battery storage company Jupiter Power. “Have we been built for 4 months of 100-plus [steps]? There is some uncertainty.”
If the early spikes in temperature continue this year, it could stress the grid and power stations, Smith and Rhodes warned. In addition to the grid currently working, that could change if this summer continues its relentless heat.
“It’s like the human body; heat stress is cumulative,” Rhodes said. “The body has no time to recover. Power plants are like that too, they need some recovery time.”
Rhodes also said that renewable energy helped greatly during this early boom by removing pressure from the traditional thermal power plants that use coal and natural gas to keep the lights on.
Human-induced climate change is associated with an increase in global temperature and extreme heat. And while it’s too early to tell exactly how much climate change is to blame for the current heat wave, it’s safe to assume it’s a factor, ‘said Andy Dessler, who heads the University’s Texas Center for Climate Studies Texas A&M.
“It’s 100% certain that climate change is contributing to this,” Dessler told CNN. “Everything is getting warmer. August is getting warmer; June is getting warmer. It’s hot and this is the future.”
Overcrowded transmission lines
While Texas is an oil and gas giant, renewable energy – and especially wind – has been doing well for a long time. Texas generates the largest wind energy in the country: In 2020, it produced more wind electricity than Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma – the next top three states – combined, according to the U. On the same subject : How is solar energy generated quizlet ?.S. Energy Information Administration.
The sun has a smaller share of the state’s energy mix than the wind, but it’s growing as well. Solar generated about 4% of electricity in Texas last summer, and is expected to grow to 7.2% this summer, EIA projections show.
It will be important to take out more sunlight to deal with heat waves in the depths of summer, when wind speeds usually drop, experts told CNN. That’s because if it’s very hot out, there’s a good chance the sun is going down.
But Rhodes and Webber pointed to infrastructural issues that constrain renewable energy potential; Texas needs more transmission lines to transport energy generated by renewable sources to customers. Rhodes mentioned ERCOT projects that show higher solar counts than what was actually used; casualty of overcrowded power lines unable to transmit power to consumers.
“About half of the solar that could be produced is not currently being produced because there is no more space on the lines,” Rhodes said. “The numbers for renewable energy would probably be higher if we had the transmission capacity to move them around.”
Wind and sunshine also have a natural variety; the sun cannot generate energy at night, and wind turbines do not turn when the wind is not blowing. That’s encouraging a strong focus on developing more giant batteries that can store and use renewable energy when the wind is not blowing, and the sun is not shining.
“It keeps the growth of strong renewable resources; it allows you to secure that renewable capacity,” Smith said.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct Joshua Rhodes’ name.