Improving the Texas Power Grid

Before Winter Storm Uri, few people knew about or had heard of ERCOT. But since then, there are frequent news reports about how ERCOT continues to navigate the precarious balance between supply and demand. In June 2024, ERCOT president and CEO Pablo Vegas told state lawmakers that power demand in Texas is growing even faster than expected. ERCOT had previously estimated overall capacity would need to grow from 85,000 to 110,000 MW by 2030, but nearly doubled that estimate to 150,000 MW.

The League of Women Voters Comal Area is honored to host Beth Garza, former Director of the ERCOT Independent Market Monitor from 2014-2019 after serving as the Deputy Director since 2008. Ms. Garza is a renowned industry leader in electricity market design and is known for her ability to convey the most complicated nuances of electricity markets.

Included in the discussion will be the intricacies of Texas's power grid, its structure, challenges, and its role in ensuring a stable energy supply for the state. Texas market design and ideas for improvement, understanding and managing the supply mix combined with increasing demand. Do we need a new entity to be a distribution system operator, or could other utilities or ERCOT play that role? Why does Texas keep experiencing mass power outages, and are outages likely to continue?