ERCOT and Texas A&M Build Open‑Source Dynamic Models to Secure the Grid from "Giant" Loads

ERCOT and Texas A&M team up to model behaviour of very large electricity loads

AUSTIN — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, Inc. (ERCOT) has partnered with the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) to develop detailed, generic dynamic models of very large electricity consumers — including data centres, crypto‑mining facilities and electrolyzers. The project will examine how these loads change their power draw during and after grid disturbances such as faults and other power‑quality events.

"Most large loads are on the order of tens to hundreds of megawatts and use power‑electronics interfaces," said Prashant Kansal, ERCOT's Director of Grid Transformation. "This shift is analogous to the industry move from conventional synchronous generation to inverter‑based generation, but now the transformation is occurring on the demand side and introduces new complexities in how loads interact with the grid."

Because inverter‑interfaced loads at this scale are becoming more common, ERCOT and TEES will accelerate development of open‑source Electromagnetic Transient (EMT) models for use in conceptual studies, improve understanding of plant‑level characteristics, and establish laboratory benchmarks to validate models against real hardware.

"Accurate modelling of large‑load behaviour during and immediately after disturbances is critical to understanding grid stability and guiding ERCOT's planning and operations," said Jeff Billo, ERCOT's Director of Operations Planning. "These models will be among the first open‑source EMT tools developed from the best available information and are an important early step toward better data centre modelling."

Two faculty members from Texas A&M's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dr. Prasad Enjeti and Dr. Xin Chen, are co‑leading the research. They bring complementary expertise in power‑electronics hardware and power‑systems modelling and will oversee lab benchmarking using Texas A&M's testbed, which includes computer power supplies and equipment suited to a variety of power‑electronics applications and simulation tools.

The collaboration aims to produce more accurate assumptions for grid studies and to recommend desirable characteristics for very large loads to improve overall system stability. Ultimately, the results will inform industry best practices and support ERCOT's broader Grid Research, Innovation, and Transformation (GRIT) initiative — which focuses on research, prototyping, and understanding the implications of rapid grid and technology evolution.

What this means: utilities, grid planners and large‑load operators will gain open‑source modelling tools and validated benchmarks to better predict how gigawatt‑scale demand resources behave during disturbances, reducing uncertainty and helping guide reliability strategies as the grid evolves.