Texas runs its own electric grid. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) operates almost entirely inside the state, serving roughly 90% of Texas’s electric load and standing largely apart from the two interconnections that link the rest of the continental United States.
A Record-Breaking Summer
In July 2026, ERCOT set a new all-time peak demand record of 91,308 megawatts (MW), up from a previous record of 85,508 MW set during a heat wave in August 2023. The grid operator had forecast demand could top 92 gigawatts (GW) this summer, driven by extreme heat and rapidly growing load from data centers. Despite the record, ERCOT reported the grid held with more than 20,000 MW of buffer between demand and available generation — enough to serve roughly five million additional homes.
Solar and Batteries Carry the Peak
The record demand was met without emergency conservation appeals, thanks in large part to Texas’s fast-growing renewable and storage fleet. During the same week, ERCOT recorded new highs for solar output (34,665 MW) and battery storage discharge (nearly 12,000 MW) — roughly three times the battery capacity available just two years earlier. Texas now has more than 53,000 megawatts of installed solar capacity and nearly 30,000 megawatt-hours of storage, making it the fastest-growing solar and storage market in the country.
The Next Challenge: Data Centers
ERCOT is tracking more than 438,000 MW of large-load interconnection requests, with nearly 89% coming from data centers. To manage the surge, the Public Utility Commission of Texas recently approved ERCOT’s “Batch Zero” process, which groups large projects (75 MW and up) into a single study rather than reviewing them one by one — an effort to make sure new demand connects only where the grid can reliably support it.
This is a market explainer based on ERCOT, gridstatus.io, and industry reporting on the record July 2026 demand event — not investment advice. See our Data Sources & Disclaimers page for sourcing details.