.The Texas Energy Report

June 23, 2026 — Aerospace engineering professor Dr. Paul Cizmas will lead a team of researchers on campus who will test alternative methods of powering jet engines this year. The team settled on hydrogen as the best option due to its chemical structure. It creates vapor and steam when it burns, as opposed to traditional jet fuel that releases carbon dioxide.

Hydrogen also releases three times as much energy per kilogram of fuel. These characteristics make it an ideal fuel source for spaceships, which require an immense amount of energy to make it past Earth’s atmosphere. The research is sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in hopes to find cleaner alternatives in war zones.

There are significant challenges to using hydrogen as a primary fuel source, however. It burns faster than traditional jet fuel, which can make it dangerous to carry aboard an aircraft. It is also less dense, which makes storing small and easily transportable quantities more difficult.

Aerospace engineering Ph.D. student Justin Schoppe has been working on the project since its inception. He agrees that the greatest challenge is storage and transport and says finding a solution is not impossible, just difficult.

Schoppe also highlighted the benefits of using hydrogen. It is an element that is easy to find because it can be pulled from water through electrolysis, but traditional jet fuel comes from natural gas, which is a finite resource.

“If you’re using jet fuel, there’s only one place that it is coming from, and that’s the ground,” Schoppe said. “It’s far more sustainable to power things off of hydrogen.”

Going into the research, Schoppe said they had to consider several things, such as how efficiently the new fuel is burning and maintaining an even temperature to prevent dangerous outcomes. The end goal of the research is to make hydrogen more accessible for people around the world.

“Anything that you can do to push the world closer to sustainable or renewable sources of energy is great,” Schoppe said. “Bringing this technology to smaller scale pilots to bring them into a more sustainable future is well worth it.”

The team is still in the preliminary stages of testing in the Jet Propulsion Lab. Aerospace graduate student Matthew Schulz will be working through simulations to understand how different fuel types will affect the jet engine that is being tested. He emphasized that these simulations are key before physical testing in future stages.

Once the testing is done, Schoppe hopes it can contribute to a future of sustainable fuel sources.

“There’s a lot that goes into these kinds of studies because it has a wide-ranging effect on basically just everyone,” Schoppe said. “We all live on this planet so we all need to do our part to move forward in a sustainable fashion.”…
 

June 18, 2026 — NUBURU Inc., a developer of advanced blue-laser technologies and defense-focused photonics solutions, has announced a significant step forward in underwater energy transmission through a new collaboration with Italian technology company SunCubes.

The initiative will see NUBURU, through its subsidiary Lyocon S.r.l., design specialized blue-laser technology for integration into SunCubes’ DEEP LIGHT underwater wireless power platform.

The project represents the first concrete application emerging from a recently signed agreement between NUBURU and SunCubes. It aims to develop an underwater laser-based power transmission system capable of delivering energy wirelessly to autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) and other subsea systems, potentially transforming the way underwater assets are powered and operated.

The DEEP LIGHT platform is designed around a high-power laser transmitter and receiver architecture that enables contactless energy transfer underwater. Unlike traditional underwater charging methods that require physical docking or cable connections, the system seeks to transmit power over distances of several tens of meters using laser beams operating in the blue-green optical spectrum.

This wavelength range is particularly important because blue and blue-green light experiences lower attenuation in water than many other wavelengths, allowing energy and data to travel more efficiently through underwater environments. By leveraging NUBURU’s expertise in blue-laser technology, the collaboration aims to improve the efficiency, reliability, and scalability of underwater wireless power systems.

Lyocon, acquired by NUBURU earlier this year, will serve as the laser-source design and integration partner for the project. The company brings established expertise in laser manufacturing, photonics engineering, and systems integration, positioning it as a key contributor to the development of the DEEP LIGHT platform.

See more at Interesting Engineering

June 18, 2026 — The Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) today approved ERCOT’s Batch Zero process for large-user connection requests, ensuring large electricity users like data centers only connect in quantities and locations the Texas grid can reliably support. ERCOT is the first Independent System Operator (ISO) in the nation to use a batch process to assess large electricity users wanting to connect to the grid.

The new batch framework — built through a robust stakeholder process with input from developers, utilities, generators, consumer advocates, and industry experts — groups qualified large projects that are 75 megawatts (MW) and greater into a single study so ERCOT can assess the full picture of future electricity demand at once, fairly allocate available grid capacity, and identify needed transmission upgrades.

“Texas is experiencing an energy transformation unlike anything we have seen before,” said ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas. “This new process represents a fundamental shift in how ERCOT manages the significant growth of large load interconnection, providing a structured, transparent path forward that protects reliability for Texans while supporting the state’s continued economic growth.”

ERCOT is tracking more than 438,000 MW of large load requests, nearly 89 percent from data centers alone. “Batch Zero” is the name of the first group of large-user applicants to go through the new process.

Stakeholder-Driven Process

ERCOT’s robust stakeholder-driven process included one-on-one interviews, public workshops, and formal committee sessions. It produced results unprecedented in scale:

• More than 200 hours of live discussion
• Workshops averaging approximately 500 participants each
• Approximately 200 survey responses
• More than 290 written comments

“The response from the Texas energy community was remarkable. The depth of participation and quality of feedback were extraordinary, and both directly shaped how ERCOT manages large load connections in Texas,” said Jeff Billo, Vice President, Interconnection and Grid Analysis.

The framework was approved by the Protocol Revision Subcommittee (PRS), Reliability and Operations Subcommittee (ROS), the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), and the ERCOT Board of Directors before PUCT consideration.

The principles established through the Batch Zero framework will serve as the foundation for an ongoing, comprehensive transmission planning process developed in partnership with stakeholders later this year.

New Reliability-Focused Connection Pathways

The Batch Zero framework gives large electricity users additional pathways to connect to the ERCOT grid that are expected to yield reliability benefits for Texans.

The framework includes provisions for large customers that want to build their own onsite generation to self-supply some or all of their electricity, reducing the need to draw from the larger grid. Facilities that are truly islanded with no grid connection would generally fall outside ERCOT’s interconnection process, though they may still be subject to registration requirements with the PUCT.

Additionally, the framework creates a pathway to connect for large customers who agree to let ERCOT curtail their power use in response to local transmission constraints, reducing demand where and when the grid needs it most.

For additional context, view ERCOT’s Batch Study Trending Topic.

Next Steps for Batch Zero

Following today’s approval, ERCOT expects to notify Batch Zero applicants of their project classification in August 2026, at which point the full scope of Batch Zero will be known. A final transmission plan covering the entire batch of projects across the state is expected to be published in fall 2027. While not all interconnection requests result in built projects, ERCOT data shows the majority expect to be operational by 2030.

Applications for Batch 1 are expected to open in Summer 2027. For additional background, view ERCOT Revision Requests: NPRR1325 and PGRR145.

June 18, 2026 — Oil and gas regulator Wayne Christian today announced the next phase of the Delivering Oil and Gas Efficiently (DOGE) Task Force following a year of stakeholder engagement, review and modernization efforts at the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC). The initiative aims to streamline internal processes, strengthen communication and bolster the RRC’s responsive, pro-business approach.

“Our goal is simple: make the RRC more efficient, responsive and transparent while maintaining safety, environmental stewardship and regulatory integrity,” Commissioner Christian said. “Texas producers know better than anyone where government processes create unnecessary delays, and they’ve made their concerns clear. Government should be less focused on bureaucratic procedures and more focused on delivering results.”

Following a year of extensive stakeholder engagement, detailed agency review and comprehensive evaluation of regulatory processes, the initiative is entering an expanded implementation phase focused on advancing operational improvements and modernization efforts across the agency.

Examples of priorities the RRC has identified or implemented include:

• Identifying opportunities to reduce unnecessary expenditures while continuing agency audits and oversight efforts to improve operational efficiency.
• Modernizing the RRC’s digital infrastructure through enhanced online filing tools, a new single sign-on platform and the development of a more integrated regulatory system that reduces duplicative submissions and improves data management.
• Expanding transparency by publishing key permitting information through the Open Data Portal and enhancing data access, tracking and communication tools.
• Promoting greater consistency in inspections across districts through regular coordination, training and standardized guidance for inspection, compliance and enforcement activities.
• Strengthening accountability, stakeholder communication and case management processes to improve responsiveness and regulatory clarity.
• Enhancing orphan well and critical infrastructure programs through increased contractor competition, improved data quality and targeted inspection efforts.

Building on stakeholder input gathered throughout the review process, the RRC continues to identify opportunities to streamline workflows, enhance efficiency and improve overall agency performance. A second round of DOGE Task Force meetings will be held in the coming months to gather additional feedback, assess ongoing progress and explore further opportunities to strengthen agency operation…
 

May 29, 2026 — Understanding the dynamics of how water moves is deceptively simple in concept and endlessly complex in practice. Real-world marine environments are anything but controlled: Weather, seasons and geography change constantly. Yet understanding water movement is a critical aspect in areas of study like marine biology, coastal and environmental science and even policy around how we recover from natural disasters.

Dr. Jiabi Du, assistant professor of marine and coastal environmental science at Texas A&M University at Galveston, is spearheading the comprehension of ocean circulation and dynamics by creating detailed 3D ocean models that simulate how water moves throughout Gulf environments.

“I like to use 3D models as a major tool to help me understand the underlying physical processes and mechanisms driving all the interesting phenomena we have seen,” Du said.

Du has spent years developing a high-resolution coastal ocean model for the northern Gulf. His model can replicate oceanic conditions such as water level, ocean currents, waves, temperature and salinity with stunning accuracy — requiring hundreds of processors to simulate on a powerful supercomputer.

“We can comfortably use 400 CPUs to do all the simulations,” Du said. “It gives us pretty good efficiency — about 24 hours for a one-year simulation.”

These 3D models are endlessly customizable, making them invaluable tools for isolating impacts from different forces — such as tide, wind and hurricanes — and measuring how they affect the whole system. When integrated with real-world observations, applications for these findings…
 

We forecast natural gas consumption by the U.S. electric power sector this summer will remain near recent highs and set a record next summer in our May Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). Despite a 2% increase in overall U.S. electricity demand this summer, we expect natural gas-fired electricity generation to be similar to last summer, primarily because of forecast increased generation from renewables. In the May STEO, we forecast natural gas consumed by the U.S. electric power sector will average 43.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) during the summer (June–September), the same as in the summer of 2025, and 4% above the five-year summer average (2021–2025). We forecast natural gas consumption for power generation will increase 6% (2.4 Bcf/d) during the summer of 2027 to 46.1 Bcf/d, surpassing the previous record set in 2024 by 3%.

Electricity consumption is highest during the summer months because of cooling needs across all sectors. The record-high natural gas consumption we forecast for the summer of 2027 is primarily driven by increasing sales of electricity to the commercial and industrial sectors in the West South Central and Mid-Atlantic regions. We forecast demand in the commercial sector to grow nationally because of the addition of new data centers and large manufacturing facilities—particularly in Texas (driving up demand in ERCOT) and Virginia (driving up demand in PJM). These facilities require large amounts of electricity for both operation and cooling.

We expect commercial and industrial electricity demand in the West South Central region to rise 20% from the summer of 2025 to the summer of 2027. In addition to increasing commercial demand, electricity demand from the region’s industrial sector is expected to increase in 2027 because of growing electrification in the oil and natural gas sector and other industrial projects. We forecast the Electric Reliability Council of Texas  (ERCOT), which manages the grid for most of Texas, will meet the rising demand with more generation from both natural gas and solar. From the summer of 2025 to the summer of 2027, we expect ERCOT to increase natural gas generation 22%.

The PJM Interconnection, which operates the electrical grid across the Mid-Atlantic, has steadily increased its natural gas consumption for electricity generation over the past decade as the region’s power demand has increased and as natural gas-fired generation became more competitive with coal. We expect this trend to continue alongside increased commercial sector demand from computing facilities. Natural gas consumption for electricity generation in PJM is forecast to increase by 6% (9 BkWh) in the summer of 2027 relative to the summer of 2025, and solar generation is forecast to increase 32% (4 BkWh) over the same period.

The trend toward more generation from a combination of natural gas and renewables and less from coal has also played out nationwide. Over the past decade, the U.S. electricity…
 

Developers plan to bring approximately 44.9 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of new pipeline capacity online in the United States in 2026 and 2027, according to our latest Natural Gas Pipeline Projects Tracker. Approximately 70% (31.6 Bcf/d) of this new capacity is already under construction. More than 66% (29.7 Bcf/d) of the capacity additions originate in Texas. Louisiana is second with 19% (8.4 Bcf/d) of total capacity additions.

The projects in Texas will provide additional takeaway capacity out of the Permian Basin and debottleneck the Waha Hub, supplying natural gas to LNG export terminals, as well as residential, power, and industrial users.

The largest of the pipeline projects currently under construction and projected to enter service by the end of this year include:

• Rio Bravo Pipeline Project: A 138-mile pipeline originating in Texas with a capacity of up to 4.5 Bcf/d, which will deliver feedgas to NextDecade’s under construction Rio Grande LNG export terminal. NextDecade is targeting an in-service date in the second half of this year.
• Blackcomb Pipeline: A 365-mile, 2.5 Bcf/d pipeline currently under construction and slated to enter service in the third quarter 2026. The pipeline originating in Texas will deliver Permian supply from the Waha hub to the Agua Dulce hub, further clearing the Waha bottleneck.
• Hugh Brinson Pipeline: A total 2.2 Bcf/d project increasing takeaway capacity from the Permian Basin in Texas. The developer expects phase 1 of this…
   

Texas Energy Report NewsClips Friday June 5, 2026 Asterisk (*) denotes news stories that may be inaccessible because portions are behind a paywall   Good morning! Here are today’s Texas Energy Report NewsClips …

May 14, 2026 — Three Republican candidates fighting for two open District 1 and District 5 seats on the Louisiana Public Service Commission this year received substantial support from PSC-regulated entities or organizations, PACs or businesses with ties to those enterprises, according to an Energy and Policy Institute review of campaign finance filings for candidates participating in the Louisiana primary elections from January 1, 2025 to April 16, 2026.

Republican candidate Stephanie Hilferty, D-1, received 50 percent of her contributions from PSC regulated entities or people or entities associated with them, primarily lawyers associated with utilities and lobbying firms whose clients include oil and gas companies and utilities.

Republican candidate John Young, also running for D-1, received 29 percent of his contributions from people or entities associated with PSC regulated entities, primarily utility PACs and utility executives.

District 5 Republican candidate John Atkins has deep ties to the oil and gas industry, and received nearly 30 percent of his contributions from people or entities associated with PSC regulated entities, primarily in the oil and gas and utility industries.

Early voting in the primary elections is already underway, with ten Republicans and Democrats vying for the two open seats that have been held by Commissioner Eric Skrmetta (R-D1) and Commissioner Foster Campbell (D-D5), who have termed…
 

The volume of coal delivered in the United States for uses other than power generation—primarily, for manufacturing—decreased by about half in the last 15 years. Coal delivered for these purposes in the South decreased the most in percentage terms between 2010 and 2025, falling 75%, or 14.7 million short tons (MMst), according to our Annual Coal Distribution Report and Quarterly Coal Distribution Report. In 2010, the South received more than double the amount of coal received in the Northeast; by 2025 the two regions received about the same amount. Manufacturers’ increasing use of natural gas instead of coal and the closure of manufacturing plants using coal were major factors in this decline.

Receipts of coal in nearly all states in the South decreased relative to 2010 levels. The Appalachian coal belt states (West Virginia, Alabama, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Georgia) had the largest volumetric decreases, averaging 1.7 MMst. In terms of percentage decline, Florida, West Virginia, Georgia, Texas, and South Carolina all had declines of 90% or greater. Only Louisiana received more coal in 2025 than 2010, increasing 775%, or 0.2 MMst. However, Louisiana’s non-electric power distributions only composed a small portion, approximately 5%, of the South’s total coal distributions in 2025.

On a windy day, a headwind or tailwind can significantly affect how far an electric vehicle (EV) travels on a single charge.

To help EVs use energy more efficiently, researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington are partnering with Hyundai Motor Group to develop advanced routing strategies.

Led by civil engineering Assistant Professor Kate Hyun and in collaboration with Hyundai engineers Junyoung Kim, Gisu Bang and Sanghyun Park, the project explores how real-time data—especially wind conditions—can guide drivers along routes that conserve battery power.

“Traditional navigation systems are designed to get you to your destination as quickly as possible,” Dr. Hyun said. “But for electric vehicles, energy consumption is just as important. We’re looking at how factors like wind, road slope and traffic can work together to create smarter, more efficient routes.”

For EV drivers, range is more than just a performance metric. It is key in shaping the overall experience. External factors such as aerodynamic drag from headwinds can significantly affect energy consumption, and incorporating these metrics into route planning remains a major challenge, the Hyundai researches said.

The study proposes energy-efficient routes by considering various factors such as wind, road gradient and traffic, using real-world vehicle data.

“Through this collaboration, Hyundai Motor Company has confirmed…
 

A University of Houston engineer has found that lithium dendrites—hazardous growths inside lithium-ion batteries that power everything from smartphones to electric vehicles—are unexpectedly strong and brittle, signaling a need to rethink future battery design.

The growth and penetration of lithium dendrites through electrolytes and separators remain key challenges to realizing high–energy density lithium-metal batteries.

The dendrites are tiny crystal ‘needles’ that form inside the batteries for a variety of reasons, from fast charging to low temperatures. Though minute, measuring just hundreds of nanometers (more than 100-times smaller than a strand of human hair), lithium dendrites can cause catastrophic damage and safety hazards including short circuits and fires.

“For decades, the scientific community assumed that solid-state electrolytes could easily block dendrites because lithium was thought to be a soft, ductile metal. We have proven they are actually brittle and snap like glass,” said Yan Yao, Hugh Roy and Lillie Cranz Cullen Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering. Yao’s work is published in Science, in an article co-authored by his colleagues from Rice University, Georgia Institute of Technology and…
 

Update: 7:30 pm Eastern Time, Texas Energy Report

6:45 Eastern Time/ 5:45 Central Texas Energy Report — In a post on Truth Social, President Trump announced that he will suspend the war in Iran for two weeks subject to “the complete, immediate and safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz”

This comes hours before Trump’s 8pm ET…
 

Data source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook, March 2026

U.S. crude oil production grew by 3%, or 350,000 barrels per day (b/d), in 2025, setting a new annual production record of 13.6 million b/d, according to our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). Production from the Lower 48 states excluding the Gulf of America (L48) accounted for 11.3 million b/d, or 83% of the total U.S. crude oil production in 2025. The rest of the production came from Federal Gulf of America (GOA) and Alaska.

In 2025, the number of active rigs per month in L48 was 5% less than in 2024 and 1% fewer wells were drilled. Despite less rig activity and fewer wells, efficiency improvements that we saw in 2024 continued through 2025 and resulted in a slight increase in crude oil production, with new wells producing 2.9 million b/d of crude oil and wells drilled prior to 2025 producing 8.3 million b/d. Rig and well activity fell in 2025 compared with 2024 because West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices fell from $77/barrel (b) in 2024 to $65/b in 2025.

March 23, 2026 — Residents near a Beaumont-area Valero refinery are being told to shelter in place as clouds of black smoke drift above the plant and firefighting efforts continue for a second hour.

The plant is in the city of Port Arthur, but no evacuations have been ordered and there are no reports of injuries at the plant.

One official said the explosion was caused by an industrial heater, and there are no indications of sabotage.

TV station KBMT says the Southeast Texas Alerting Network reports no danger to air in the general area, but monitoring continues.
 

Electricity demand has been rising steadily since 2020 after more than a decade of little change. Between 2020 and 2025, U.S. electricity demand, as measured by net energy for load, grew about 1.7% annually compared with 0.1% annual growth between 2005 and 2019. Electricity use by data centers is driving the electricity demand growth. Continued development of these large computing facilities and growth from expanded industrial use of electricity are likely to continue driving growth in U.S. electricity demand in the near term. In this analysis, we explore the potential impact of faster-than-expected electricity demand growth, while assuming the same future generating capacity as the February Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO).

Our February STEO reflects the latest forecasts published by grid operators PJM and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) and uses forecasts for economic activity and weather to arrive at our baseline forecast for electricity load. ERCOT manages the grid covering most of Texas, and PJM manages the grid covering all or part of 13 states (Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia) and Washington, DC. In our February STEO, we forecast that U.S. electricity load will increase by 1.9% in 2026 and 2.5% in 2027. We expect that the highest load growth will be in the ERCOT and PJM regions where forecast growth of annual electricity load averages 10% and 3%, respectively, between 2025 and 2027.

Grid managers are responsible for regulating the interconnection of new generating capacity and new large load customers to ensure that future electricity demand can be accommodated by the available supply of power. If demand were to grow faster than supply, the stresses on the grid would be evident in spikes in wholesale power prices or even periods of rolling…
 

Annual U.S. crude oil exports in 2025 decreased 3% from 2024, the first annual decrease since 2021. Exports decreased to Europe and the Asia and Oceania region, the two top regional destinations for U.S. crude oil. Despite fewer crude oil exports, U.S. crude oil imports decreased by more. Overall, U.S. net imports of crude oil—total imports minus total exports—decreased from 2.5 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2024 to 2.2 million b/d in 2025.

Since the early 2010s, U.S. exports of crude oil have increased sharply, driven by increasing U.S. crude oil production, expanding domestic infrastructure, increasing global demand for light, low-sulfur crude oils, and the removal of crude oil export restrictions in 2015. In 2025, the United States exported 4.0 million b/d of crude oil, 85 times as much as in 2011, but…
 

March 4, 2026 — Texas state tax revenue from oil and natural gas was down considerably during February 2026 when compared with a year ago, while the state’s overall sales tax income was up nearly 4-percent.

Oil production tax to the state was down 21-percent last month, according to the Comptroller’s office, at $386 million, compared to February 2025.

The natural gas production tax was down 18-percent at $181 million compared to a year ago.

Motor fuel taxes, at $310 million, was up less than one-percent last month year-over-year.

In a statement, Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock said overall state sales tax revenue totaled $4 billion in February, “3.8 percent more than in February 2025. The majority of February sales tax revenue is based on sales made in January and remitted to the agency in February.

“Texas continues to show steady economic momentum,” Hancock said. “Sales tax remains the backbone of our state budget, and these numbers reflect a resilient Texas economy that continues…
 

We forecast that U.S. natural gas marketed production will increase by 2% to average 120.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2026 and then further increase to a record-high 122.3 Bcf/d in 2027 in our latest Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). Around 69% of forecast production over the next two years comes from the Appalachia, Haynesville, and Permian regions.

U.S. natural gas production growth will primarily come from the Appalachia region in the Northeast, the Permian region in western Texas and southeastern New Mexico, and…