Brattle Report: Natural Gas, Renewables To Dominate ERCOT Market
June 3, 2014
Natural gas and renewable energy will continue to dominate the ERCOT market over the next 20 years, while adoption of expanded energy efficiency and demand response programs could reduce 40 to 50 percent of projected peak demand growth across the system, according to a new report from the Brattle Group. Natural gas provides both low-cost base load energy and ancillary services that integrate wind and solar energy, the report said. It added that energy efficiency and demand response offer substantial opportunities to displace future capacity additions and lower overall electricity costs. Brattle explained that 3 GW of peak reduction could be achieved by new energy efficiency programs and identified 2 to 4 GW of new DR programs as economically achievable. In other findings, the report said that real energy prices remain within the band of prices actually experienced in ERCOT between 2010 and 2012 and that carbon emissions will be slightly reduced by the addition of energy efficiency and DR.