By modelling a range of demand-growth scenarios, researchers identified how future electricity needs could transform grid planning in Texas

Electric vehicle charging creates peaks in electricity demand when users charge at the same time (Courtesy: iStock/Spicytruffel)

In Texas, US, electricity demand is expected to grow because of rapid population growth, increased adoption of electric vehicles, expansion of AI data centres, and other societal and industrial developments. Most of Texas’ electricity system is managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), which operates a grid that is largely independent from the rest of the United States. Combined with the state’s rapidly changing demand patterns, this makes Texas an important test case for exploring future energy scenarios.

In this work, the researchers developed a framework to model how different sources of electricity demand growth could affect the Texas grid through to 2050.…