As energy demand surges, largely due to crypto mining facilities, data centers and industrial electrification, Texas officials are looking at how to increase supply and shore up the grid.
The rise of artificial intelligence, the digitization of the economy and everyday life’s growing computing needs have turbocharged the expansion of data centers, driving up a surge in electricity demand in Texas and across the country.by 2030, in part due to more requests to plug into the grid from large users like data centers, crypto mining facilities, hydrogen production plants and oil and gas companies.
Large data centers can require 100 MW or more each, consuming the same amount of power per year as 350,000 to 400,000 electric cars,the International Energy Agency. Put another way, a larger facility can use as much electricity as a medium-sized power plant, the U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s primary grid operator, estimates that 1 MW of electricity can power roughly 200 homes.from large users — including but not limited to data centers — would grow by 60% this year, making up around 10% of the total forecast demand on the state’s main grid.to connect to the grid, according to a September report. The EIA expects that by the end of this year, ERCOT will have approved 9,500 MW in total large-user demand — a 73% increase.
Some large users, primarily crypto mining facilities, have committed to temporarily lowering their energy usage in periods of grid strain — an agreement thatData centers, on the other hand, generally require an uninterrupted supply of power and typically do not participate in ERCOT’s high-demand response programs, according to a recentNationally, data centers are expected to consume between 11% and 12% of total U.S.
Bell added that the projected demand “provides forward signals in the market” that encourage companies to invest in new power generation. Judging whether data centers and other large projects might actually build in Texas after requesting ERCOT consideration remains difficult, experts testified to lawmakers last year, making ERCOT’s demand prediction less certain. Companies looking to build data centers may submit requests in multiple prospective locations.
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