HOUSTON – With temperatures soaring to triple digits across Texas this week, many Houstonians are bracing for what they fear the power grid might not be able to hold up.

But so far, that hasn’t happened.

Houston hit 100 degrees for the first time this summer on July 24, when Texans used nearly 82,000 megawatts of electricity, which was the highest demand so far this year. The next day, July 25, Texas set a new solar power record by generating 28,451 megawatts of solar energy. Despite the intense heat and soaring power use, the state’s power grid remained stable.

What’s changed?

In years past, extreme heat or winter weather would send ERCOT — the Electric Reliability Council of Texas — scrambling to warn residents to conserve energy, sometimes even triggering rolling blackouts.

But this year? No conservation warnings. No blackout threats.

“If we did shatter those records, let’s say we approached 86, 87 gigawatts, we’ve currently got enough generation across the state to meet our reliability needs,” said Matt Boms, executive director of the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance.

Since the deadly 2021 winter storm that left millions without power, Texas has been rapidly expanding its energy supply.

Nearly 90% of the added capacity has come from wind, solar and battery storage, according to Boms.

“Those have been the key drivers behind our state staying reliable during these summer heat waves,” he said. “If not for those three technologies, our grid right now would be struggling to keep up with that increasing demand.”

Demand keeps growing

Texas is booming, and so is its need for power.

ERCOT forecasts that by 2030, daily electricity demand could reach 150,000 megawatts — nearly double today’s all-time high.

To meet that demand, the state is leaning heavily on renewable energy.

Eight out of every 10 new power projects seeking to connect to ERCOT’s grid are solar or battery systems.

“It’s the cheapest and quickest form of energy to build right now,” Boms said.