Breaking down a record-setting day on the Texas grid

Demand Response & Smart Thermostats

• Several users report “rush hour” thermostat events aligning with gross load peak, then releasing at net load peak, causing a usage spike when prices are highest.
• Some feel these programs may cost them more than doing nothing, especially on flat-rate tariffs.
• Complaints about difficulty unenrolling and opaque processes; some resorted to password changes, device resets, or replacing thermostats.
• Concerns about utilities’ cloud access to EVs/thermostats and over-polling vehicles, causing 12V battery issues.
• Others argue demand response should reduce net peak load and that participants should not pay more than non-participants; if they do, something is misdesigned.

Utility-Scale Batteries and ERCOT Operations

• Texas now has substantial utility-scale storage, with record battery discharge measured in MW (power), not total MWh.
• ERCOT drew ~2,000 MW from its Contingency Reserve (ECRS) and relied heavily on batteries instead of slower-start resources.
• Batteries are praised for frequency/voltage support and evening price control, but capacity is still too small to absorb frequent wind oversupply; curtailment remains normal and efficient.

Grid Tightness and Conservation

• Discussion around a day with ~85 GW load and only 130 MW of “SCED within 5 minutes” capacity left.
• Clarification that ~4 GW of additional capacity existed outside SCED but likely at higher cost.
• Some users note fewer conservation alerts this year; others describe frequent thermostat-based “Rush Hour” events from local utilities.

Crypto Mining, Data Centers, and Load Growth

• Bitcoin miners and data centers in Texas participate as flexible load, sometimes earning more from curtailment payments than from operations.
• Local complaints include noise, limited jobs, tax breaks, and potentially higher retail power prices.
• One side calls bitcoin an energy-wasting “game”; another claims it’s economically and socially vital, more important than air conditioning or even the internet.

Home Batteries and Free-Night Arbitrage

• Users ask about charging home batteries on “free nights” and discharging by day.
• Consensus: current turnkey home batteries (e.g., Powerwall) usually don’t pay off purely for arbitrage once cost and degradation are included.
• Debate over degradation severity and warranty periods; DIY LFP cell systems can be much cheaper per kWh but require expertise.
• EV vehicle-to-grid is mentioned as an emerging alternative.

Texas Renewables and Rooftop Solar

• Some argue Texas “should” be covered in rooftop solar but lacks strong state policy; others counter that incentives exist and many neighborhoods already have significant solar.
• Local co-ops may offer unfavorable buyback rates, with accusations of “regressive” changes motivated by lost kWh sales rather than grid costs.
• Distributed solar’s value and how much to pay for exports (retail vs market rates) is debated.

Grid Interconnection and Market Design

• Commenters note that while Texas burns gas, nearby regions sometimes have negative prices from wind oversupply that could be imported/exported with better interconnection.
• Resistance to connecting ERCOT to other US grids is tied to avoiding federal regulation and preserving local control.
• Some stress that isolation already contributed to deadly failures (e.g., winter storm), arguing for at least emergency interties.
• Others warn that broader interconnection can propagate failures and that gas plants have nontrivial start/stop costs, complicating simple “just import cheap power” narratives.