I recently attended the regional InterSolar conference in Dallas, Texas, where I learned a lot and saw some impressive new equipment we may begin to offer. I also felt a bit like a solar industry tourist since so many of the seminars were specific to Texas policy and laws. My 25 years of solar conference experiences typically include discussions of environmental aspects of solar, climate change, and carbon mitigation, and while Texas is the fastest growing solar state in the country in terms of deployment, this event really had no talk of those issues. The overall message of the conference was that Texas is open for business and will use their abundance of solar, wind, and of course gas and oil to pursue the development of all forms of energy as rapidly as possible, to generate the largest amount of inexpensive reliable electricity as possible. In this way the state would be the most competitive and attractive location for all the new businesses they could possibly get. Overall, data centers were a major focus of the event. Texas has recently seen huge investments from Oracle, Meta, SoftBank, and OpenAI.
A couple of recent victories that were touted during the show to validate the success of that strategy. Toyota announced last year a $530 million expansion and 400 new jobs at an existing facility in San Antonio. Apparently a 20 year commitment to a low electricity rate schedule was a major factor in winning this expansion when Toyota was considering various sites in the US, Mexico, and Canada.
A much larger investment was announced the day before the conference by Google committing $40 Billion for three new data centers to be built within the next two years. Obviously, cheap and reliable power is crucial, and in Google’s case, they are also looking for clean power. One of the three sites will have immense solar and battery storage arrays co-located to ease the increased strain upon the grid. A couple of associated commitments Google has made are $30 million for statewide energy efficiency programs (to help reduce the competing energy load) and also funding a significant electrical apprenticeship program associated with the construction and maintenance of these sites. Of note, Google has been claiming usage of 100% clean power for many years, through the purchase of Renewable Energy Certificates, however they are shifting to the much more difficult goal of running 24/7 on clean power, which they intend to accomplish by 2030.
Despite rapid growth in the last decade of solar and wind in Texas, natural gas has been, and will continue to be the largest energy source on the Texas grid, providing around 60% of the overall fuel mix.
According to Gov. Greg Abbot, “Texas will be the centerpiece for AI data centers for Google. They can come here and operate here knowing that Texas moves at the speed of business.”
How does this affect you as a small business or homeowner on the Olympic Peninsula? I think the important thing to recognize is the velocity of change, and to have the understanding that the last 20 years is not a useful predictor the next 20 years. After generally flat electricity usage from 2000 to 2020, we are now seeing significant new load growth which is presenting a challenge for utilities. While Washington has “benefited” from cheap reliable power from the federal government’s Bonneville Power hydro system, its significance to our energy portfolio will diminish over the next 20 as our region works to grow our energy resources in a way that does not increase carbon pollution nor further degrade our environment. Nevermind how they might do it in Texas.
While I was in Dallas in the middle of November, they were enduring a record breaking heat wave and we saw a high of 87 F on Nov 18, which was a timely reminder of the interplay between extreme weather events and sustained grid reliability. Despite 2023 being the hottest November in history, and 2024 being the second hottest, we all know weather is not climate and record breaking temperatures alone are not a basis for alarm or for establishing any policy.
The best way for you to establish your own personal energy policy is to pay close attention to energy efficiency opportunities and to install a rooftop grid-tied solar PV array on your home. Then you will be assured that you are somewhat insulated from rapid price increases caused by our society’s newly increased appetite for energy and other costs beyond your control.
