Texas Power Company

Every state has an idea in mind on how they should supply power to their people. Everyone, including Texas, will need to be constantly aware of several demographic factors to be able to foresee enough future broadcasting to serve their population in the best manner possible.

Texas is large state that has one of the fastest growing populations, as well as receiving the blessing of an explosion in job growth. Both of these are two of the factors to keep in mind while trying to decide what method Texas electric companies should use in generating power. By 2030, the expectation is to have a population of forty million people, and you will want to make sure the grids can handle the demand for a number of years. Temporary fixes just won't do. One option that the Texas power companies are looking into is adding a new base load of power plants to produce for the grid.

Currently, Texas electricity si at approximately seventy-two percent capacity in its use of natural gas for generation, while coal holds out at nineteen percent. The best way to produce energy effectively is to have a mix of resources going into the grid. When a state relies on simply one brand of energy, it may fall into disarray. Costs would rise and resources diminished. If Texas were to build more coal generating plants, than the cost of producing the energy could be kept down, and therefore the majority of low-income people living in the state could afford their electric bills. Coal is a reliable resource that should still be readily available over the next few decades. One drawback of using the coal generating stations is the emission of greenhouse gasses. Still, it has been determined by some that it will not be enough of an impact on the o-zone to worry about.

One study by the electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) estimated that by 2017 Texas would need an additional 500 megawatts of power generated from the older plants to sustain the expected business and residential population. Newer plants would need to generate almost 48,000 megawatts of energy. The gap between supply and demand will only grow if new ways of production are not met. Renewable energy might be able to help meet the needs of the state.
Texas currently has the largest producing wind farm in the nation. Nearly 3000 megawatts of energy are produced by wind turbines, which is about one-third what a coal plant could handle.

Another option could be to go nuclear, but it would take awhile to get those types of plants up and running. Natural gas is clean burning and is the major producer of energy in Texas. This type of energy is widely requested by industrial companies in the state. The Texas power companies could choose from any number of resources in order to produce more electricity for their power grids to sustain enough energy for the populace. The final decision will be based on demographics, feasibility studies, and cost of growing the grid to fit the state's needs.