NatGas Share Declines on ERCOT in Jan-Sept While Solar Jumps


   
Barani Krishnan
DTN Refined Fuels Market Reporter

   SECAUCUS, NJ (DTN) -- Natural gas-fired generation dipped 4% year-on-year in 
the first nine months at ERCOT while solar-sourced generation grew 50% as the 
Texas electricity provider saw record demand, the U.S. Energy Information 
Administration said Friday (10/24).

   Natural gas-fired generation between January and September accounted for 43% 
of the power on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas grid, versus 47% for 
the first nine months of last year, the EIA said.

   It said gas contributed to 161 TWh of electricity on the ERCOT in 2023 and 
its share has flattened since to158 TWh between January and September this year.

   The increased availability of solar generation on the Texas grid in recent 
years has also reduced the need for gas-fired generation during that time of 
the day, the EIA noted.

   Since 2023, wind and solar generation, especially utility-scale solar, have 
been the fastest-growing sources of electricity on the ERCOT and increasingly 
meeting rising demand, which hit a record high in the first months of this 
year. ERCOT's generation itself grew 5% to 372 TWh between January and 
September.

   Utility-scale solar generated 45 TWh in the first nine months of this year, 
up 50% from the same period of 2024 and nearly four times that of the 
comparative span in 2021, when utility-scale solar only produced 11 TWh.

   Wind generation through the first nine months of this year totaled 87 TWh, 
up 4% compared with the same period in 2024 and 36% since the same period in 
2021. Together, wind and solar generation met 36% of ERCOT's electricity demand 
in the first nine months of 2025.




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