Texas has drawn its share of scrutiny for having an independently managed grid. Major outages during severe weather events in recent years increased skepticism the experiment is working.

This summer, the state took a step toward silencing its critics as it endured extreme weather without any calls for customers to conserve. Regulators are crediting recent increased capacity from clean energy technology for helping avoid disruptions.

Texas endured some of its hottest days of the summer during the week of August 19. Temperatures reached triple digits across the state, and in some places peaked at or above 110°F.

Additionally, the state’s independent systems operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), set a new record for peak demand of 85,559 megawatts (MW) on August 20. That bested the record of 85,116 MW set only a year ago.

Last year was also difficult for the state. ERCOT set 10 new records for peak demand in 2023. The operator also asked customers to conserve multiple times, to help balance power distribution on the grid. This became a source of contention for the operator with customers and critics.

This year was different. To the surprise of many, the state avoided any heat-related outages or conservation requests, despite the heat and the record demand. A number of factors contributed to the different response. As hot as it was, this summer was not as intense as 2023.

Last year’s summer weather was described as a “heat dome,” a large area of high pressure (and extremely warm air) that becomes trapped and stays over an area for a long period of time. This year’s summer temperatures were high, but not as intense or long-lasting.

The second factor is the increased capacity of renewable energy capacity and storage that have added resiliency to the Texas grid. In an August 20 presentation to the ERCOT Board, president and CEO Pablo Vegas noted that “significant increases” of storage, solar and wind resources have contributed to “more consistent conditions” during the peak periods of the summer.

ERCOT added about 4,000 MW of solar, 1,000 MW of wind and 1,000 MW of battery storage capacity in the last year.