6/14/2023 0 Comments Grids for instagram alternativeLastly, Krishnamoorti says Texas has to improve it’s transmission system to avoid the problem of parts of the state having too much of a power supply, while other parts are desperate. “You’re picking winners and losers and there’s no reason for people to invest into difficult to invest infrastructure,” said Krishnamoorti. Texas’ market works by constantly seeking out the lowest cost energy to put into the grid. Krishnamoorti said the other side of this problem is the current marketplace doesn’t make it economically enticing for companies to build new power plants in our state. “They come on for very short periods of time, they come on for maybe two, three hours and then they go back down,” said Krishnamoorti. Krishnamoorti said Texas needs to build more energy storage facilities and so-called “peaker” plants these are natural gas facilities designed for short term use. “So we’ve got all of the above, it’s a question of do we have the right mix at the right times that we need it,” said Ramanan Krishnamoorti, Chief Energy Officer at the University of Houston. If demand outstrips our state’s base power supply, plus dispatchable power, then Texas has to rely on renewable energy like wind and solar to fill the gap. On-demand, or dispatchable power as it’s called, comes from coal, natural gas and nuclear energy and it can be turned on during times of peak demand. PUCT Chair Peter Lake explained between 20, Texas’ population grew by 24%, but the state’s dispatchable power supply only grew by 1.5%. These worries stem from what officials with the Public Utilities Commission of Texas and ERCOT said is Texas’ failure to keep up with population growth in terms of the grid. On Wednesday, officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, shared a seasonal assessment that shows extreme temperatures over the summer may put the state in an energy crunch.
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