From the Desk of the CEO

Texas RE’s annual Reliability Performance and Regional Risk Assessment details the performance of the electric grid in the Texas Interconnection from the previous year and looks ahead at potential risks and observed trends. The 2024 report is chock full of details but the key takeaway is that the state of reliability in our Region is strong.

The extended high summer peak periods in 2024 were well managed thanks to our constantly growing grid capacity. Solar generation in particular helped turn the scorching Texas heat into an asset for the grid, while new energy storage facilities helped smooth the transition in the evenings. The Texas Interconnection did not experience any Energy Emergency Alerts (EEAs) in 2024 related to insufficient responsive reserves, nor any significant transmission emergencies that risked cascading outages or collapse. These are certainly good indicators of the health of our grid in Texas, but we still face important challenges to provide the reliable and secure electricity that Texans expect and upon which our economy relies.

Over the past year, there have been multiple developments that are having a significant impact on the Texas Interconnection. The first is the integration of new large loads. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Region is facing unprecedented load growth, primarily driven by new data centers and artificial intelligence services, as well as increased demand from the oil and gas sectors. ERCOT currently forecasts more than 70 GW of new load could come online by 2028. This is a success story for the Texas economy and speaks to its dynamism, but accommodating all of these expanding industries presents significant challenges to electric reliability. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and ERCOT have large load-focused task forces that are addressing the risk of disorganized integration of large loads from national and state perspectives.

Another challenge facing our region is ever-changing generation mix. Like the integration of large loads, the rapid increase in new generation is a success for Texas, but one that needs to be carefully managed. Over the past five years, the total energy from solar generation in Texas has increased 996 percent. Based on the latest projections, that growth isn’t slowing down. Battery energy storage capacity neared 10 GW in 2024 with the total set to increase to 27.5 GW over the next two years. This shift to incorporate more variable generation resources, while simultaneously moving away from traditional dispatchable fossil-fueled machines, introduces new risks. The 2021 and 2022 Odessa disturbance events and the subsequent reports jointly published by Texas RE, NERC, and ERCOT touched off a wave of activity at the state and national levels. These efforts focused on mitigating the risks from inverter-based resource ride-through and modeling accuracy, among other issues.

Extreme weather events are another risk factor that persists in our region. This past year, Texas RE compliance staff engaged 46 entities on their cold weather preparedness, including numerous site visits and walkdowns to assess preparations. The region’s thermal generation fleet performed particularly well during January 2024’s Winter Storm Heather, January 2025’s Winter Storm Enzo, and February 2025’s Winter Storm Kingston. Overall forced outages from winter conditions significantly declined from previous years. While these are noteworthy successes, the increasing prevalence and severity of extreme weather events means we must all do our best to be prepared. Texas RE will continue to partner with industry to maintain our collective vigilance on these issues.

Finally, cyber and physical security remain central to our shared reliability mission. The electric industry is encountering an unprecedented number of threats from ransomware, malware, supply chain vulnerabilities, and other risks. Given the growth of dispersed generation resources in the Texas Interconnection, Texas RE is emphasizing the need to improve remote access security—particularly for low impact generators. We also recommend implementing sound supply chain controls and testing, and executing incident response plans when events do occur.

The pace and breadth of change in our Interconnection is like nothing that has been seen before. Fortunately, we have a dedicated staff at Texas RE that is ready to meet these challenges by partnering with industry stakeholders to develop proactive solutions. I’d like to thank our partners at ERCOT, the Public Utility Commission of Texas, the Electric Reliability Organization Enterprise, FERC, and all of the registered entities who work every day to ensure electric reliability in Texas. To learn more about any of these topics, please join us at our Evolving Grid Workshop on July 16, where we’ll discuss the vision for the Texas Interconnection for the next 10 years.

Reliably,
Jim Albright