Power grid takes on the West Texas drilling boom

The booming oil and gas industry in the Permian Basin has created a voracious demand for power in West Texas, one that the grid is struggling to keep pace with, a Texas grid manager said Thursday. “Growth out in the far West is 20 to 25 percent year over year. It has just exploded and it is all oil field load,” said Brad Jones, vice president of commercial operations for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the grid for most of Texas. Jones was one of several speakers at a morning panel at the IHS CERAWeek energy summit in Houston, speaking about electricity issues confronting Texas. But a lack of juice has not slowed down production, Jones added...more