Texas could add 3.5 GW of solar this year [View all]

[Finishline42]

Last edited Mon May 4, 2020, 12:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Texas could add 3.5 GW of solar this year

(just for reference ERCOT had 2,281 MW of solar at the end of 2019) (edited to correct GW to MW)

Solar capacity in the ERCOT grid region has the “potential” to reach 5.8 GW this year, said ERCOT in its annual “State of the Grid” report. ERCOT serves nearly all of Texas.

Solar capacity in ERCOT has room to grow, as it met less than 2% of the grid’s load last year. Wind power met 20% of the grid’s load, with wind capacity at 24 GW and potentially rising to 33 GW this year. Wind and solar generation developers submitted a “record number of interconnection requests” last year, the report said, and “with more solar projects coming online, wind and solar power have begun to complement each other.”

Solar additions this year should also help serve peak load, which exceeded 74 GW last August 12, and which ERCOT expects to reach just under 77 GW this summer.

snip

ERCOT also created a battery energy storage task force, and staff began exploring technical requirements, modeling needs and market rules for battery storage. Battery storage capacity in the ERCOT region stood at 104 MW in 2019 “and is on track to exceed 350 MW by the end of 2020,” said the report.

https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2020/05/04/texas-could-add-3-5-gw-of-solar-this-year/