ERCOT Sets an All-Time Peak of 91,134 MW, Beating the 2023 Record by About 6%

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas set a new all-time peak demand record on July 22, 2026, reaching 91,134 megawatts in the hour ending 6 p.m. Central time, according to ERCOT. The figure is preliminary until final settlement. It exceeded the previous record of 85,508 MW, set on August 10, 2023, by about 6%. A 6% increase over the previous peak is a large step for a grid of ERCOT's size. ERCOT has said for several years that large loads are driving its forecasts sharply higher.

Solar played a large role at the peak, illustrating how much the Texas grid has changed. Natural gas remains the largest source of generation and the main source of firm capacity. The record comes as ERCOT implements new processes for connecting large loads. The question of how data centers behave during grid emergencies is central to these rules. Texas summers have grown hotter over recent decades, and the state has experienced several record-breaking heat waves since 2022.

Load growth in West Texas, driven by oil and gas electrification and new industrial demand, has strained the transmission network there. Heat waves in Texas often coincide with drought, which affects thermal plants that rely on surface water for cooling. Real-time prices in ERCOT rise sharply when reserves tighten, because the market relies on scarcity pricing rather than a capacity market to signal the need for new resources. Large flexible loads, particularly cryptocurrency miners, have become a feature of the Texas market.

While summer peaks are now higher, ERCOT's most serious reliability crisis came in winter, during Winter Storm Uri in February 2021. ERCOT publishes seasonal assessments of resource adequacy that estimate the probability of emergency conditions. Key items include final settlement of the peak figure, whether further heat waves in August set new records, the pace of connections from the large-load queue, implementation of SB 6 rules and ERCOT's summer operational review, which will examine how resources performed during the peak.