I don’t get it. Tens of millions of people in the state have transitioned to far more efficient energy-using appliances and lighting. LED’s are supposed to use a small fraction of what the old incandescents used, and produce far less heat.
How are we using much less energy through efficiency but still running short of power?
EVs and data centers.
There are several reasons. 1) large population increase from other states and legal and illegal immigration, 2) rapid increase in server farms, 3) large increase in electric vehicles, 4) shuttering coal fired plants and 5) not building enough natural gas or nuclear plants. What we should have done is to force wind and solar providers to guarantee a daily minimum power generation which would have forced them to secure nat gas peaker plants to kick in when wind and solar power generation dropped.
I know that reading the actual article is somewhat of a no no here in this board. But in this case the article says 50% of the new increased demand is AI data centers and Bitcoin mining ops both of which are moving to Texas in droves specifically to get at our cheap corporate electricity rates. In Texas corporations get huge discounts on power. Their power rates are usually in the 4 to 5 cents per kWh range. Retail power is 12 to 17 cents per kWh. Simply pricing corporate power at retail rates would keep those power hungry companies out. Remember neither of those industries creates much local employment or local tax revenues so the burden of the increased electrical infrastructure is shouldered by people who will not benefit from having those industries in their back yards. The article again points this simple fact out.