We are excited to share with our readers a unique news and research/analysis resource: The Texas Energy and Power Newsletter by Doug Lewin. Doug is a strong thinker and writer on the past, present and future of the US’ most important electric power grid, the Texas ERCOT system. He also has the ear and attention of some of the most important players who will help shape the future of the grid. Doug is full on with the climate change problem but he operates in the real world of what actually can be done.
By subscribing to his newsletter, you will be able to access all of his previous writings and get the latest delivered directly to your inbox.
The future of the Texas grid will largely set the course for the rest of America. Consumers and commercial users consume more electric power in Texas than the next closest state: California, which uses about half the power that Texas does. Surprisingly, Texas produces about 1/3 of its power from renewable sources (wind, solar and batteries) and its renewable share is increasing by leaps and bounds. Power demand is surging in Texas, coming from population growth, higher air conditioning demand, GDP growth of about 6% per year, industrial electrification, and, most important, AI data centers. But that’s just the beginning. There are now projections of a doubling of electricity demand in Texas before 2035, a crazy number for an industry used to low single digit demand growth. With its vast flat landscape, windy plains and natural gas spewing out of its oil wells, Texas has the wherewithal to meet this demand and then plenty left over to export out to the rest of the US. Texas is also at the heart of the industries at the forefront of the energy transition and the re-industrialization of America with a major build out going forward of facilities for LNG, hydrogen, EV charging, carbon capture, ammonia, crude oil refining, petrochemical facilities to make plastic.
Subscribing to his newsletter gets you access to paid episodes of his Energy Capital podcast, the full archives of articles, invitations to subscriber-only presentations and chats, and regular Grid Roundups.
Doug recently did a podcast interview of former Texas Governor and US Secretary of Energy Rick Perry. Rick is advocating for a build out of nuclear power in Texas and the State is working to support this new energy source.
Doug also got an interview with Jigar Shah, one of the lead Biden Administration Department of Energy executives leading the Inflation Reduction Act loans and investments in the energy transition.
Doug recently did a podcast interview with Pablo Vegas, the Chair of ERCOT, even after Doug gently chastised ERCOT for continuing analytic and policy failures around preparing the grid for winter freezes. Texas homes and businesses largely rely on inefficient electric resistance heaters that create massive power demand as it gets colder. The February 2021 Deep Texas Freeze killed at least 246 Texans. Politicians initially blamed renewable resources but it turned out that coal and gas generation failures were mostly to blame. Doug contends that ERCOT still does not fully understand the causes and solutions.
Most recently, Doug was one of the first to report on ERCOT’s forecast of nearly doubling electric demand in Texas by 2030, AND THEN wrote about how Texas could not only meet the demand (mostly with renewables) but capitalize on the opportunity to the benefit of the state and country.
Doug provides a lot of content for free but he’d like to grow his coverage of Texas issues, so please join me in subscribing and supporting his important work if you are able.
