What is ERCOT?
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is the independent system operator and regional transmission organization that manages the electric grid and wholesale electricity market for most of Texas. Discussion of the grid operator has centered on how quickly its load is growing and how interconnection queues are screened for genuine demand.
Company timeline
- Jun 2026 - Doug Arent said early trials of attaching financial commitments to proposed grid connections cut expected demand by roughly a third from prospective demand, with Texas, Illinois and other states moving in that direction.
- Jun 2026 - Arent said the roughly 300 gigawatts of interconnection requests are not real; operators instead count projects willing to pay to enter the queue, which amounts to tens of gigawatts per year that they believe they can manage.
- Sep 2026 - Stacey Doré said ERCOT hit an all-time peak load above the prior record by more than 6,000 megawatts, a large jump rather than an incremental one, and prices barely responded.
- Sep 2026 - Doré said load growth of 4% to 6% per year is expected in ERCOT, against 2% to 3% in PJM by 2030.
Where it appears in the record
Every line below is attributed to a named speaker.
ERCOT set an all-time peak load record this summer, surpassing the prior peak by more than 6,000 MW, yet power prices barely responded.
“This summer in Urkott, you know, we hit an all-time peak load in Urkott by more than 6,000 megawws. I mean, it wasn't like a tiny incremental ad to the peak. It was a very large, you know, peak load increase. And prices barely responded.”Stacey Doré · 15 Sep 2026
Speculative interconnection queues vastly overstate real demand. Once financial commitment is required, expected demand falls by one-third, revealing that most queue entries are placeholder bets rather than firm plans.
“What we know from a few early trials of adding financial commitment to those proposed connections to the electricity grid. So Texas is moving in that direction, Illinois, a few other states, is that the "expected demand" is down by a third from the prospective demand as well.”Doug Arent · 30 Jun 2026
Doug Arent on the real scale of Texas's 300 GW interconnection queue.
“That 300 gigawatts or something of request is not real. What they look at is what's really in the queue, who's willing to pay to get in the queue and that's incrementally tens of gigawatts going forward per year, which they think they can manage.”Doug Arent · 30 Jun 2026
Vistra projects PJM load growth of 2 to 3 percent per year and ERCOT load growth of 4 to 6 percent per year by 2030.
“We expect 2 to 3% load growth per year in PJM by 2030 and anywhere from 4 to 6% in Urkott.”Stacey Doré · 15 Sep 2026