Boms: Texas Is Booming — and the Grid Has to Keep Up

Texas is booming—and with it, electricity demand is soaring. From AI data centers to new industrial campuses and a growing population, the Lone Star State is facing an energy challenge like never before. By 2030, ERCOT projects that peak demand will hit 138 gigawatts (GW)—up from the current all-time recordof 86 GW, set in August 2024.

If we’re going to meet that demand, we’ll need every gigawatt we can get—especially from low-cost, fast-deploying technologies like wind, solar, and battery storage. These resources aren’t just good for the grid; they’re essential for Texas to stay competitive, attract investment, and keep energy affordable for families and businesses alike.

This reality shaped what did—and didn’t—happen in the Texas Legislature this year.

Several high-profile anti-renewable bills, including SB 715, SB 388, and SB 819, all stalled in the Texas House. These proposals would have added red tape, blocked projects, and undermined investor confidence at the exact moment Texas needs to attract capital and scale up power generation. Their failure wasn’t accidental—it reflected a growing consensus across business and policy circles: now is not the time to slow down clean energy.

Meanwhile, a few pragmatic, bipartisan reforms advanced. HB 5323 creates the Texas Energy Waste Advisory Committee, an interagency effort to cut energy waste—unlocking up to 4.5 GW of capacity, equivalent to powering more than 900,000 homes. By aligning state programs and tapping billions in available funding, it’s a smarter, cheaper way to improve grid reliability. SB 1202 and SB 1252 bolster that effort by streamlining backup power permitting and protecting access to home resilience tools like batteries and generators.

These measures may not grab headlines, but they reflect a more modern, flexible approach to grid reliability—one focused on making the most of what we have. They were joined by bold new ideas that, while they didn’t pass this session, laid the groundwork for future action: HB 5200, which called for ERCOT to evaluate advanced grid-enhancing technologies, and HB 3511, a first-of-its-kind vehicle-to-grid (V2G) proposal to integrate EVs into the energy market.

SB 6, now signed into law, reflects the magnitude of the challenge. It creates new rules for large load interconnection, authorizes curtailment mechanisms, and directs the Public Utility Commission to revisit how transmission costs are assigned across the ERCOT market. Whether those tools support or hinder reliability will depend on how they’re implemented—and whether we continue to prioritize affordability, innovation, and fair market access.

As Rep. Drew Darby put it when opposing one of the anti-renewable bills: “Renewables are one of the greatest success stories we have in this state.” He’s right. Texas leads the nation in wind, solar, and battery storage. Clean energy isn’t just working—it’s winning. It’s driving private investment, boosting resilience, and helping Texas stay competitive in a global economy.

Texas is booming. Our power grid needs to boom with it. And that means making room for the technologies that are already powering the future.

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Matt Boms, executive director of the Texas Advanced Energy Business Alliance (TAEBA), which represents companies from across the advanced energy sector—including energy efficiency, storage, demand response, solar, wind, and grid services. The column appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author.

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