.The Texas Energy Report

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…
 

February 3, 2026 — The State of Texas received 18-percent less in Crude Oil Production Taxes for the month of January when compared to a year ago, according to the latest figures from the state comptroller’s office.

The natural gas production tax, however, was up 9-percent, reflecting the increased value of gas partially caused by the boom in LNG.

The crude severance tax produced $384 million for the state, down 18-percent from January 2025.

The natural gas tax gathered $189…
 

December 22, 2025 — The Railroad Commission of Texas is taking important steps to help ensure adequate natural gas supply to keep Texans safe this winter season. These include important weatherization inspections of critical natural gas facilities currently being conducted throughout the state by the Critical Infrastructure Division.

As part of the agency’s commitment to protecting Texans during extreme weather events, CID conducted more than 7,400 inspections of natural gas facilities for weatherization preparedness in FY25 and has already begun work on the FY26 Extreme Cold Inspection Schedule. For the new fiscal year, CID has inspected 100% of Tier One facilities, which are critical components of gas supply. Tier One facilities are oil and gas leases that produce more than 5 million cubic feet of gas daily, gas processing plants, underground gas storage facilities and natural gas pipelines that directly connect to electricity generation plants.

To further strengthen preparedness, CID recently hosted a tabletop exercise with operators. The session provided guidance on inspection readiness, emergency management practices and weather‑related resources to ensure operators have the tools and knowledge needed as Texas …
 

From ERCOT:

December 12, 2025 — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT) today announced a series of strategic organizational changes designed to accelerate innovation, strengthen grid reliability, and support the unprecedented growth in electric demand across Texas. Two new ERCOT organizations— Interconnection and Grid Analysis and Enterprise Data and Artificial Intelligence (AI)—will formally launch in January 2026.

“Texans expect a grid that is reliable, resilient, and ready for the future,” said Pablo Vegas, ERCOT President and CEO. “By strengthening our data foundation, modernizing our interconnection processes, and aligning our teams around emerging technologies, ERCOT is building an organization that is faster, innovation oriented, and better positioned to serve Texans for years to come.”

Interconnection and Grid Analysis

ERCOT continues to be at the forefront of a worldwide transformation in how electric grids produce and deliver electricity. The new Interconnection and Grid Analysis organization will better support the rapid increases in large loads and generation resources seeking grid interconnection and enable further advancements in grid analytics.

To lead this effort, Jeff Billo has been promoted to Vice President of Interconnection and Grid Analysis. Jeff will oversee generation interconnection, large load interconnection, stability analysis, and stability model validation efforts. Jeff will report to Woody Rickerson, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.

Enterprise Data and Artificial Intelligence

High-quality, well-governed data is the foundation…
 

U.S. production of associated dissolved natural gas, also known as associated natural gas, increased by 6% last year, mirroring the growth in crude oil production from the Permian region. Associated natural gas production averaged 18.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2024, according to data from Enverus DrillingInfo.

Associated natural gas, which is natural gas produced by wells that predominantly produce oil, comes mainly from five major oil producing regions in the…
 

From Texas Tech University:

Texas Tech University’s Global Laboratory for Energy Asset Management & Manufacturing (GLEAMM) has received $1.25 million in funding from Google’s philanthropy Google.org to advance research on artificial intelligence (AI) data center load management and electric grid flexibility. Google’s support is part of a $40 billion investment in Texas announced last week by Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Governor Greg Abbott.

The project addresses a critical challenge: AI workloads consume 10-100 megawatts per facility, creating significant stress on electric grids during peak demand periods. The research will explore how computational loads can be scheduled, modulated or geographically shifted to support grid flexibility while integrating renewable energy and energy storage.

Texas Tech is uniquely positioned to address these emerging challenges, combining proximity to several very large data center projects on the South Plains with access to diverse power sources, including substantial wind and solar generation, as well as world-class expertise and infrastructure at GLEAMM.

“Powering the next era of AI requires both world-class infrastructure and a resilient electric grid,” said Robert Barron-Pryce, Google.org Giving Manager at Google. “As part of our broader investment in Texas, we’re proud to support the work Texas Tech is doing to directly…
 

From The Railroad Commission of Texas:

Click here for frequently asked questions on the importance and processes of primacy

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that it has approved the State of Texas’ application and will be granting Class VI Underground Injection Control (UIC) primacy to the state.

“This approval will give the Railroad Commission of Texas primary enforcement authority for Class VI wells, which are used for the injection of carbon dioxide into deep underground rock formations for permanent storage.

“This approval by the EPA recognizes RRC’s expertise to add Class VI wells to our UIC program, to continue our work of protecting Texans and our natural resources,” said Wei Wang, RRC Executive Director. “Additionally, primacy will streamline the application process and provide the regulatory certainty that is critical to Texas, which is one of the most productive energy regions in the world.”

The RRC has a long history of regulating various classes of injection wells, providing strong oversight and protecting underground sources of drinking water, and its UIC program has been commended by the EPA Region 6 during annual evaluations.

“Approving Texas’ request to be in charge of this critical program is a big step forward for cooperative federalism—as big as the state of Texas,” said Regional Administrator Scott Mason. “The Texas Railroad Commission has demonstrated that the state is ready..
 

November 7, 2025 — Researchers at Texas A&M University have developed the first known metallic gel. Unlike everyday gels, like those used in hand sanitizers, hair products or soft contact lenses, this new material is made entirely of metals and can withstand extreme heat. The discovery could be a game changer for energy storage. 

The gel is created by mixing two metal powders. When heated, one metal melts into a liquid, while the other stays solid and forms a microscopic scaffold. The liquid metal remains trapped inside this structure, creating a gel-like material that looks solid but contains liquid within.

Everyday gels are semi-solid materials containing an organic backbone holding liquids in place at room temperature. Unlike them, metallic gels require very high temperatures, which, depending on the metals used, can be around 1,000 degrees Celsius or 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit.

“Metallic gels have never been reported before, probably because no one thought liquid metals could be supported by an internal ultrafine skeleton,” said Dr. Michael J. Demkowicz, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, who led the research. “What’s surprising in this case is that when the majority component — copper — was melted into liquid, it didn’t just collapse into a puddle. That’s what pure copper would have done,” he said.

Metallic gels made from highly reactive metals with strong electrical attraction, known as electronegativity, can be used as electrodes in liquid metal batteries (LMBs). In simple terms, these metals are very reactive and easily bond with other materials, which helps the battery work efficiently.

LMBs are special types of batteries that store and release large amounts of electrical energy. Instead of using solid materials like most batteries, they use layers of liquid metal. Because the parts are liquid, they do not wear out as quickly as regular batteries.

So far, LMBs have mainly been used in large stationary systems, such as backup power for building applications that need to keep running during a power outage. They have not been used in moving systems because the liquid inside shifts when the battery moves. This can cause a short circuit, which…
 

November 5, 2025 — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT) today announced that it is partnering with the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) to develop detailed generic dynamic models of large loads—such as data centers, crypto, and electrolyzers—and how these loads change their power output during and after a period of grid disturbances (e.g., faults and other power quality events). The partnership is part of ERCOT’s recently announced Grid Research, Innovation, and Transformation (GRIT) program.

“Most of the large loads range from tens to hundreds of megawatts and are based on power electronics technology,” said Prashant Kansal, ERCOT Director of Grid Transformation. “This represents a similar shift to what has been seen in the change from conventional generation to inverter-based generation—only at a much larger scale for loads and will introduce complexities and new ways in which large load interacts with the grid.”

With the significant growth of large loads on the grid, ERCOT is collaborating with TEES to accelerate the development of generic models for various conceptual studies, gain a better understanding of plant-level characteristics, and benchmark models in the lab.

“It is critical to accurately model large load behavior during and immediately after grid disturbances to understand grid stability, which drives how…
 

Key Takeaways from this artlcle:

• Nearly one-third of Texans face high energy burdens, with low-income, minority, and rural communities disproportionately affected due to aging homes and inefficient infrastructure.
• Rising utility costs, grid upgrades, and new industrial demands like data centers threaten to worsen affordability and reliability across the state.
• While conservation and clean energy is a potential solution, public understanding is low and opinions are deeply divided along partisan lines, highlighting a need for broader education and policy focus on both supply and demand.

October 28, 2025 —  Texans face growing energy inequality as vulnerable communities, including those along the Gulf Coast, endure high energy burdens, rising utility costs and aging homes, according to a new survey by the University of Houston and Texas Southern University.