ERCOT Projects Lights Will Stay on in Texas This Summer

SUGAR LAND, TEXAS--May 17, 2021--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Three months after the lights and heat went out in Texas during a February cold snap, the Texas electric grid operator projected the lights should stay on this summer. That is, unless the Lone Star State is hit with a "Black Swan" combination of higher-than-expected demand, below-average generation from renewable resources and above-average number of thermal generating units experiencing unplanned outages. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) (Austin, Texas) predicted that there was a 1% chance that all three of those events could happen this summer.