COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Dr. Thomas Overbye is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Texas A&M and director of the university's smart grid center.
He says he is optimistic about the grid's reliability this summer even though there has been heat advisories issued and a projected record energy demand by ERCOT.
"I'm pretty confident in the electric grid this summer. It is a stressful time on any electric grid because as you operate at higher temperatures, you will likely have generator failures," Overbye said.
According to Overbye, the Lone Star State does have a very diverse electric supply. From nuclear energy, to coal, natural gas, generational, wind generation from the gulf coast, and solar sources, there are many methods Texas can generate power for the grid. The only type of energy source Texas lacks is hydro.
"Here in Texas, our generators are designed for the heat so we should be fine. We are growing as a state and our population is increasing," Overbye said. "That means our electric load is going up. And I expect we'll have record electric load this summer but I think we've got enough generation to meet the load."
Overbye says the worst-case scenario for Texas is a day with high energy demand, extremely high temperatures, little to no wind, and continued high demand late in the day--around sunset--when we begin to lose solar generation.
"Well, we can never guarantee that there won't be blackouts and we're coming up on the 20th anniversary of the largest blackout in North America, which was on the East Coast," Overbye said. "I got to participate in that investigation. And that was just something that occurred on a normal summer afternoon."
Also on KAGS: