There are advantages to Texas being on its own electric grid, according to Thomas Overbye, director of the Smart Grid Center at Texas A&M. Parts of West Texas, such as El Paso, are in the Western Interconnection, while much of East Texas, from Jefferson County up to Bowie County, are in the Eastern Interconnection, according to ERCOT. The independent electric grid in Texas manages the flow of electricity to 26 million Texans, which is about 90 percent of the state's electric load, according to ERCOT. Texas' electric grid is independent of the two other major power grids in the U.S.: the Eastern Interconnection and the Western Interconnection. The state also uses coal (12 percent), solar (9 percent) and nuclear (4 percent) sources to power the grid, ERCOT's website shows. Texas has the largest amount of wind energy capacity in the U.S., according to ERCOT, with wind making up 29 percent of the state's power capacity.
Texas' main source of energy for its electric grid is natural gas, which represents 44 percent of the state's energy generation. Amid an ongoing summer heat wave, here is everything to know about how energy is produced and managed in Texas. While energy issues in Texas continue to make headlines, some may not know how the Texas power grid works. The February 2021 Texas freeze that led to 246 deaths and 4.5 million Texans losing power and the two energy conservation alerts in three days the week of July 11 showed just how susceptible the energy grid in the Lone Star State is to severe weather.
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