Solar Power Surge Threatens Texas Power Bills

The Heat, The Grid, and Your Wallet: A Texas Summer Story

Folks, let’s be frank. Summer in Texas is a glorious thing – the lakes are full, the barbeques are smoking, and the kids are out of school. But it also brings a very real and increasingly expensive reality: keeping the lights on. And I’m not talking about a little extra cost, I’m talking about seeing those bills climb and wondering where all that money is going.

Last summer was, well, something else. We endured the second-hottest on record. Folks were sweating buckets, running those air conditioners nonstop, and the power grid was working overtime. Now, I’m no electrical engineer, but I know enough to appreciate the complex system that keeps our homes cool. And what I've been reading from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas – believe me, economists aren’t usually my cup of tea – paints a stark picture of the costs involved.

It's a good thing the good Lord has blessed us with ingenuity and innovation in the energy sector. Without it, we’d likely have been staring down widespread blackouts. Those shiny new solar farms popping up across the state have played a massive role. We've seen solar capacity shoot up from a mere 4,000 megawatts in 2020 to over 12,000 megawatts now. That’s a huge addition to our power mix, and it’s kept us from disaster.

But here's the rub, folks. While solar power is a blessing, it throws a curveball for the traditional power plants – the natural gas and coal facilities that have kept this state running for decades. See, when the sun goes down, that solar power disappears. Suddenly, all the demand falls on those existing plants. This "net load ramp," as the economists call it, puts tremendous stress on those facilities. They’re forced to kick into high gear, and that costs money.

And that cost, inevitably, gets passed on to you.

Wholesale electricity prices spiked frequently last summer, exceeding $1,000 per megawatt-hour on no fewer than 130 occasions. A thousand dollars! For electricity! That's an astronomical figure, and it demonstrates just how strained the system was.

Now, I’m a firm believer in market principles, but these kinds of price swings are unsettling. They highlight the vulnerabilities we have as we increasingly rely on intermittent power sources like solar.

The folks at ERCOT – our grid operator – have been working hard, increasing the amount of reserve power available to prevent outages. They’ve had to bring in extra power, and that extra power isn’t free. We're also seeing battery storage beginning to play a role, helping to smooth out those peaks and valleys in power generation. But again, it all comes at a cost.

Now, I’m not here to demonize renewable energy. We need to be forward-looking, and the future will undoubtedly involve more solar and wind power. But we also need to be realistic about the challenges and the costs. We need to ensure that we maintain a reliable and affordable energy supply, and that requires a balanced approach – embracing innovation while safeguarding against vulnerabilities.

And let’s be honest, it means understanding that keeping those lights on in the Texas summer isn’t free. It’s a complex and expensive endeavor, and it’s something we all need to be aware of. Because when that bill arrives, it’s a reminder that the price of progress is sometimes reflected in the numbers.

Let’s just hope the Lord, and some good, old-fashioned ingenuity, continues to be on our side.