Enverus Intelligence Research said Tuesday it expects power demand in far west Texas to more than double by 2040 because of electrification trends, including potential electrification in the oil and gas industry, and cryptocurrency mining growth. “We believe the far west zone in ERCOT will see enough load growth to support significantly more renewable development without curtailments,” Riley Prescott of Enverus said. “The far west will need a large power generation buildout to meet the forecast load growth. Without it, we expect power prices in the area will rise significantly.”
Enverus added, “Natural gas combustion, specifically compression, is the most practical emission source to electrify by connecting to the grid (because) these emissions mostly come from stationary sites with long expected lives… A fundamental shift began in 2022 as load growth increased relative to wellhead gas production. This was due to early electrification efforts in the Permian Basin and a migration of cryptocurrency mining load to Texas.”