What ERCOT’s Latest Reports Reveal About Reliability: Texas Grid Roundup #86
ADER pilot updates; ERCOT reports on grid reliability; and the interconnection queue's growth.
In this edition:
The Aggregated Distributed Energy Resource pilot continues to make progress.
Latest ERCOT reports show strong reliability for the Texas grid going into 2026, even as peak demand continues to set new records.
The interconnection queue points to significant new capacity on the horizon, largely solar and battery storage.
These Grid Roundups, along with the full archives, select episodes of the Energy Capital Podcast including this one on how batteries are reshaping the grid with Fluence VP Suzanne Leta, Reading and Podcast Picks, and more – are for paid subscribers.
Keeping up with the Texas virtual pilot program
ERCOT’s Aggregated Distributed Energy Resources (ADER) pilot, also known as the virtual power plant program, continues to expand, offering early insights into how customer-sited resources might support the grid.
ADERs combine smaller assets, such as rooftop solar, batteries, or flexible demand, into larger aggregations that can participate in wholesale electricity and reliability markets. The pilot was originally housed at the Public Utility Commission and is now administered by ERCOT.
As of December 2025, seven commercial ADERs are participating in the program, up from just three in mid-2025. Alongside this growth, the amount of energy and ancillary services these aggregations can provide has increased, signaling growing comfort with the technical and market frameworks needed to integrate distributed resources.
While ADERs remain small compared to traditional power plants, their importance lies in their potential. As utilities across Texas prepare to propose billions of dollars in new transmission and distribution investments, distributed resources offer a way to reduce costs by meeting some needs with local resources.
