ERCOT Says Rest Easy This Winter

Little chance of blackouts this winter 

Winter has officially arrived, and officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas say the Texas power grid is expected to hold up through most weather conditions, the Houston Chronicle reported. However, the boom in data centers across the state increases the risk of rolling brownouts to 1% to 2% through February.

Pablo Vegas, ERCOT’s CEO, said the power grid it oversees, which covers about 90% of the state’s electric load, added 11 gigawatts of new capacity since last winter, enough power for nearly 2.8 million homes.

“2025 is going to represent a year with tremendous supply growth on the ERCOT grid,” Vegas said at a quarterly board meeting last week.

However, if the state experiences a winter storm similar to the one in 2021, power demand could exceed capacity, necessitating rolling blackouts. ERCOT notes the probability of that happening is “well under one percent.”