The past few years have made one thing clear: The Texas power grid needs to get stronger and smarter if it’s going to keep up with the state’s needs.
The Texas grid presently is capable of producing and delivering about 9 gigawatts of electricity. Most days, people use that power in their homes and businesses without a second thought.
Yet the simplicity of flipping a switch or throwing a breaker masks an immensely complex system in which inputs must match outputs, prices matter nearly as much as physics, and the harmony of power generation and power transmission is in constant flux.
Existing technology solutions already are helping to fortify the grid. Batteries, microgrids and innovative artificial intelligence software all assist in making Texans’ electricity generation and delivery cheaper, more efficient and more resilient.
But those innovations, while promising, may ultimately amount to half measures that can’t offset the deeper economic and political issues that make the grid a source of profound worry for Texans.
As part of examining the grid, four different University of Houston experts were interviewed for their thoughts:
- Ed Hirs, UH Energy Fellow
- Yan Yao, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor in the Cullen College of Engineering's Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
- Jian Shi, Associate Professor of Electrical Power Engineering Technology in Cullen's Technology Division
- Harish Krishnamoorthy, Associate Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Read their thoughts here!