Canary Media: "Texas broke its solar, wind, and battery records in one spring week." I won't bury the lede this time: "In just the first week of March, the ERCOT power grid that supplies nearly all of Texas set records for most wind production(28,470 megawatts), most solar production (24,818 megawatts), and greatest battery discharge (4,833 megawatts)." Two yrs ago the maximum that batteries had ever provided the ERCOT grid was 786 MW. "Now the battery fleet is providing nearly as much instantaneous power as Texas nuclear power plants, which contribute around 5,000 megawatts." The Lone Star State has struggled to add new gas power plants, 'even after offering up billions of taxpayer dollars for a dedicated loan program to private gas developers.' But since March 2024 solar + battery additions have averaged about 1 gigawatt per month. When the weather gods allow sunny + windy weather to combine forces, magic happens. On March 2nd 2025 'renewables collectively met a record 76% of ERCOT demand.' “The fleet of thermal plants is pretty rickety and old at this point, so having the batteries on there, it’s not just a summertime thing or winter morning peak, they can bail us out in the spring, too.” The energy transition forges ahead regardless of what the president ordains or the color of the state.
