The Electric Reliability Council of Texas' natural gas consumption continued to fall as the market share of coal continued an upward trend while power consumption in the region remained steady in November from the same month a year ago, according to data released Tuesday by the grid operator.
This marks the third straight monthly decline in natural gas usage and the third straight monthly increase in coal usage.
ERCOT's 2012 Demand and Energy by Month report shows energy usage totaled 22.27 million MWh in November, compared with 22.23 million MWh in November 2011.
The National Weather Service reported that Austin, which lies near the center of ERCOT's footprint, had 15.68% more cooling-degree days this November than the average year, but 35.16% fewer cooling-degree days when compared with the same month last year. The area also had 14.88% fewer heating-degree days than 2011 and 10.73% fewer heating-degree days than normal.
Natural gas fueled 35.3% of the power consumed in ERCOT in November, down from 38.2% in October, according to the data. Coal generated 42.2% of the energy needs in November, up from 40.7% in October.
Nuclear power provided 10.3% of electricity consumed in November, down from 10.6% in October. Wind provided 11.5% in November, up from 10.2% in October. Other sources provided 0.6% of November's energy, up from the 0.3% in October.
ERCOT's peak demand in November, the 41,626 MW reached November 2, was up 0.6% from the peak demand of 41,379 MW in November of last year, which occurred November 28, 2011.
