ERCOT CEO Stuns Texas Officials With New Estimate For Power Needs

The Texas power grid managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) seems set to continue what appears to be an inexorable decline into instability following Wednesday’s testimony from ERCOT president and CEO Pablo Vegas.

Speaking to the Texas Senate Business and Commerce Committee, Vegas told members that the grid will need a massive injection in additional generation capacity in the coming years if it is to keep pace with rapidly rising demand. ERCOT had previously estimated overall capacity would need to grow from 85,000 MW to 110,000 MW over that time frame. But on Wednesday, he said his agency has raised that estimate to 150,000 MW needed by 2030 due to new unanticipated demands coming onto the system from AI data centers and crypto-mining growth.

This projection for a need to almost double current generation capacity in just a few years caught Texas policymakers off guard. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, who just last week celebrated the overwhelming response from power generators to the Texas Energy Fund (TEF) that offers low interest loans for additional natural gas generation, called Vegas’s testimony “shocking” in a post on X (formerly Twitter).