The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state's power grid operator, raised eyebrows this week when it reported that peak demand on the grid could more than qua druple by 2032.
The 2032 peak load fore cast of 367,790 megawatts far exceeds the highest recorded peak demand for the Texas grid - 85,508 megawatts in August 2023.
The forecast is prelimi nary, ERCOT cautioned in the filing submitted to the Public Utility Commission of Texas. In a Friday PUCT meeting, officials agreed the forecast is likely higher than what de mand will actually look like in the years ahead.
Officials said ERCOT plans to file a revised fore cast in the near future, as the agencies figure out how best to track the rapid buildout of en ergy-intensive projects.
Regardless of where the final forecast lands, the data continues to point to mas sive growth in demand on the grid as large data centers and cryptocurrency mines pop up across the state amid the arti ficial intelligence boom. Tex as is expected to become the nation's No. 1 market for data centers within the next two years. ERCOT's more conser vative forecast for this summer would still break the grid's 2023 record for peak demand.
