Beginning Thursday, June 15, 2023, Texas and neighboring states experienced a major heat wave that extended into the following week. This Chart of the Week examines intraday electricity demand across the ERCOT grid during that period alongside the mix of generation used to meet it.
Intraday electricity demand peaked at between 70,000 and 80,000 megawatt hours, a level generally typical for Texas during this time of year.
Despite Texas’s large installed base of utility-scale wind capacity, wind generation was low. A large stationary high-pressure air mass over the region held the heat in place and also stifled wind activity. As a result, demand was met primarily by natural gas generation.
From the EPRINC Chart of the Week archive.