CALGARY, Alberta (April 30, 2024) — Enverus Intelligence Research (EIR), a subsidiary of Enverus, the most trusted generative AI and energy-dedicated SaaS company, has released a report that quantifies the potential electrification of oil and gas assets in the Permian Basin based on operators’ emissions reduction targets and its impact on grid demand, transmission flows and the generation required to serve this growing load.
“We see Far West Texas power demand more than doubling by 2040 due to electrification trends and cryptocurrency mining growth,” said Riley Prescott, senior associate at EIR. “We believe the Far West zone in ERCOT will see enough load growth to support significantly more renewable development without curtailments.”
“Within the next few years, the Far West will need a large power generation build-out to meet the forecast load growth. Without it, we expect power prices in the area will rise significantly. We believe that the low prices seen in the Far West could be disrupted by new load drivers including electrification of oil and gas assets and cryptocurrency mining growth,” Prescot said.
Key takeaways from the report:
- Far West Texas power demand will more than double by 2040 because of electrification trends and cryptocurrency mining growth. With this increased load comes a need for additional generation buildout, otherwise power prices will rise significantly.
- Without an increase in levels of queued generation in ERCOT’s Far West load zone, EIR expects net exports to continue to decrease. This presents an opportunity for generation within the region to expand capacity to meet peak load and export to East Texas.
- Natural gas combustion, specifically compression, is the most practical emission source to electrify by connecting to the grid, as 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 following China’s crackdown on miners in mid-2021.
EIR’s analysis pulls from a variety of Enverus products including Enverus Intelligence® Research, Enverus Foundations ® Power & Renewables and Enverus Emissions & Regulatory Analytics.
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About Enverus Intelligence Research
Enverus Intelligence ® | Research, Inc. (EIR) is a subsidiary of Enverus that publishes energy-sector research focused on the oil, natural gas, power and renewable industries. EIR publishes reports including asset and company valuations, resource assessments, technical evaluations and macro-economic forecasts; and helps make intelligent connections for energy industry participants, service companies and capital providers worldwide. Enverus is the most trusted, generative AI and energy-dedicated SaaS company, offering real-time access to analytics, insights and benchmark cost and revenue data sourced from our partnerships to 98% of U.S. energy producers, and more than 35,000 suppliers. Learn more at Enverus.com.
