That innate sense of independence that every Texan comes out of the womb with has also made its way into the energy sector. With an isolated grid managed by ERCOT, Texas has found itself in an energy pickle of its own.
Since the Texas grid stands alone and the capacity market disincentivizes peaker plants from being built, it’s more vulnerable to certain things like natural disasters that cause prolonged outages or fluctuating weather patterns and high temps which intensify energy demands.
The big concern is that energy demands in Texas are expanding…rapidly. To sustain the industrial expansion and population growth, the Texans might have to do something that goes against every fiber in their being: accepting federal regulation to help connect their grid to neighboring states’ grids.