The Texas power grid is going green, and at an increasing rate. Texas wind capacity is already larger than coal, and sometime in 2018 or 2019 we’re going to see total electricity from wind be greater than coal. After summer’s heatwaves the Texas grid is begging for solar power, and a UT-Austin analysis says the grid is ripe for 11 GW of it.
And developers are listening. New records for largest solar plants in the state are being signed regularly, and a recent gauntlet was dropped for largest energy storage projects. This of course means investors are moving large amounts of solar powered money.
Now, to complement the deals being signed everyday, we get a view of the future. The most recent Generator Interconnection Status Report (GIR) from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), shows a pipeline of 80 GW of potential capacity at various level of approval – of which 38 GW is wind power and 30 GW is solar power plants. The 12 GW of gas is the lowest value that has been in the report during the last two years.