Demand on Texas’ main power grid could nearly double in the next five to six years because of a wave of new data centers, electricity officials said Wednesday.
Pablo Vegas, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, told state lawmakers that demand on the grid could reach 175 gigawatts by 2032. That would be a huge leap from ERCOT’s all-time record of 91 GW set last week.
At least 65 GW of the increased demand would come from a wave of large projects, almost all of which are data centers. The strong demand growth also is raising the possibility of more grid emergency events, which have caused havoc in Texas in the past.
“No state, and probably no country in the world — no one has ever had to try to find a way to deal with this large [amount] of growth in such a short period,” said state Sen. Phil King, Republican vice chair of the state Senate Business and Commerce Committee that met Wednesday.
