Governor Abbott's Solution to Growing Demand For Power: More Power Plants

Governor Abbott talks with PUC and ERCOT on the power grid in 2022Photo byX (Twitter)

The lack of energy in Texas has been a problem occasionally and Governor Greg Abbott sees the demand for it could get worse. Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick are proposing to build more natural gas power plants.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas or ERCOT predicts the demand for power will double by 2030. ERCOT believes the demand for power will double from 85 gigawatts to 150 gigawatts according to KVUE.

Lori Cobos with the Public Utility Commission of Texas sees the increased demand from Bitcoin mining, data centers, and artificial intelligence.

Then the number of Texans is expected to grow from a population of 30 million to 55 million by 2050.

ERCOT believes there is enough power for this summer according to this video:

In a press release, Governor Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Patrick said in a joint statement:

"In recent testimony before the Senate Business and Commerce committee, ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas testified that Texas may need 150,000 megawatts of power to power our grid by 2030. That is only six years away. Currently, Texas typically has approximately 85,000 megawatts of power available counting wind, solar, coal, nuclear, and natural gas. If the new estimate is correct, the updated numbers provided by Mr. Vegas call for an immediate review of all policies concerning the grid.”

Heat advisory in JunePhoto byX (Twitter)

“Last November, voters overwhelmingly approved Senate Joint Resolution 93, which created the Texas Energy Fund, providing for a $5 billion low-interest loan program to incentivize the building of more dispatchable natural gas plants. Texas has already received notice of intent to apply for $39 billion in loans, making the program nearly eight times oversubscribed. With the new projections for 2030, we will seek to expand the program to $10 billion to build more new plants as soon as possible. The average plant will take three to four years to complete, and new transmission lines will take three to six years to complete. Texas is currently the fastest state to approve and build new plants and transmission lines because of our low regulations and pro-business policies, but we must move quickly."

Do you think there will be a power issue this summer or winter?