SAN ANTONIO — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), a nonprofit corporation, manages the flow of energy for more than 27 million Texans, and population growth in cities like San Antonio isn’t the only factor forcing the state to increase its energy supply.
“This isn’t just about a growing population,” said Pablo Vegas, president and CEO of ERCOT. “Texas has become a magnet for industries that require increasing amounts of electricity, from semiconductor plants to data centers.”
Data centers are consuming energy 24/7 across the country. In Texas, there are nearly 340 facilities — with more planned in the future.
Vegas says future system reliability will require planning and investments.
“As we look to the future, ERCOT remains focused on ensuring that Texas has a grid capable of supporting its continued growth and economic success,” Vegas said.
ERCOT estimates by 2030 the state’s electricity demand will reach 208,000 megawatts — mostly to keep up with the growing tech industry.
“The new department that’s been created to really look at forecasting the amount of energy that’s being requested from our community and how we’re going to serve that,” said Benjamin Jordan.
Jordan has been with San Antonio’s CPS Energy for over 20 years. He handles clients like data centers and large manufactures as the interim director of Integrated System Planning — a newly created department.
“As a generation owner, we have enough generation to serve the community. That’s not a question,” Jordan said. “What we’ve looking at right now, really, what’s in front of us is the transmission infrastructure.”
To distribute power to ERCOT customers, Jordan says more transmission lines will need to be built in San Antonio and across the state.
“We’re ahead of it,” said Jordan. “And we know what we need to build. Our engineering groups have done a tremendous job of coming up with the plans that we need to put in place and what infrastructure we need to build.”
A large data center can use about 100 megawatts of energy a year. According to the International Energy Agency, that’s equivalent to the amount of power used by 400,000 electric vehicles in a year.
Although natural gas, coal and nuclear power still supply the majority of the grid’s energy — CPS is shutting down its last coal plants as a part of its Vision 2027 plan.
“Part of that does impact how power gets distributed across the wires,” Jordan said.
Texas has the most renewable energy capacity of any state in the country. Jordan says relying on wind, solar and battery storage will be key to meeting increasing energy demands, something CPS is prepared for.
“We have an obligation to serve, and that’s what we’re going to do,” said Jordan.
