Pablo Vegas also tells us he expects the market to meet the state’s growing demand for power.
AUSTIN, Texas — During a week when many parts of Texas struggled to get above freezing, the power grid held.
But only a week before, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, issued a sobering report that said the state’s demand for power could outpace supply by summer 2026.
CEO Pablo Vegas joined us on Inside Texas Politics and said there is no need to worry or panic as that is a worst-case scenario and other models show the supply tightening, but not exceeding demand.
Vegas said it’s important to focus on the trend, which is that the state will not stop growing anytime soon. And ERCOT expects the market to respond to these “signals” and fill in any gaps.
“We expect the market to jump in and to start developing the supply resources to meet that demand,” Vegas said. “And we also think a lot of that demand that’s coming to Texas has a likelihood of being able to be flexible, meaning that during periods of scarcity, they can pull back on their usage which really helps with reliability.”
ERCOT also said power demand will nearly double by 2030, so there is no doubt of some pressure on the state’s infrastructure to keep up.
Vegas argued the state will have all the power it needs because we can get things done faster as our grid is controlled by the Texas Legislature, not the federal government.
“We’re fortunate that we live and work in an environment where the regulations are low. The ability to connect customers and power to serve them happens faster in Texas than anywhere else in the country. We also have the ability to build transmission infrastructure faster than anyone else in the country,” relayed the CEO.
And now that lawmakers are busy introducing and advancing bills during the 89th Regular Legislative Session, Vegas does have an ask.
He said the grid needs more flexibility for large loads that are coming online and many of those customers have backup generators. When you think of large loads, think of data centers.
Senate Bill 6 would require companies to use those generators for a short time when demand is high. The bill currently defines a large load as 75 megawatts.
“If we can tap into that backup generation during peak periods, that helps to improve reliability right away in the short term,” he said.
