A decade ago, wind power was surging in popularity and attracting huge investments that made Texas a national leader in renewable energy.
But today, gas generation is making a big comeback, driven by a wave of data centers flooding into the state.
For the last six months, the volume of gas generation in the Texas grid’s interconnection queue — the years-long waiting list for electric generators wanting to connect to the grid — has surpassed wind. It’s the first time since January 2016 that gas has overtaken wind in the queue, a shift that reflects the policy and economic headwinds facing the wind industry and data centers favoring gas power as they seek to cash in on the artificial intelligence boom.
“The data center explosion and their desire for 24/7 power probably excited a lot of gas developers, and that gas queue got bigger,” said University of Texas professor of energy regulation David Spence.
Like every power grid operator in the U.S., the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, uses the interconnection queue to manage and plan for new power generation coming online. But not all projects in the queue ultimately reach completion. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, or LBNL, only 22% of projects in ERCOT’s queue actually get built, which is still the highest percentage of any grid in the nation.
Still, the queue gives an early indication of how the grid is projected to evolve in the future. Solar and battery projects dominate, accounting for 75% of the 458,000 megawatts in the queue, with gas and wind projects making up the rest.
More on this story at SanAntonioReport.
