ERCOT asks Texans to conserve energy for the second time this week
ERCOT asks Texans to conserve energy for the second time this week
The grid set another all-time demand record around 5 p.m. Wednesday at more than 78,000 megawatts, but ERCOT did not have to resort to rotating outages.
AUSTIN, Texas - More record-high temperatures Wednesday meant another very tight day for the Texas power grid. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) asked customers to conserve electricity for the second time in just the past three days.
It was shortly before noon Wednesday that ERCOT sent out an alert, urging Texans to conserve starting at 2 p.m.
"As I was looking at the forecast for today, I was surprised that there had not yet been a conservation notice issued. I was not surprised when it did come out. It felt very much anticipated," said Emily Beagle, research associate with the Webber Energy Group at the University of Texas.
The short notice raised some eyebrows, given that weather and grid conditions were very similar to Monday, when a similar alert was issued.
"A little bit more thermal generation offline than what we saw on Monday. Wind was performing better than it was on Monday, but then solar was performing slightly less. So we sort of have that that dual challenge of really, really high demand with limitations and some restrictions on our available supply," said Beagle.
The grid set another all-time demand record around 5 p.m. Wednesday at more than 78,000 megawatts, but ERCOT did not have to resort to rotating outages.
"In the summer, this is as close as we've had it several years," said Doug Lewin, president of Stoic Energy.
The grid maintained a narrow buffer of reserve power Wednesday, and ERCOT kept the alert level at yellow, below emergency status. Black, emergency level 3, would trigger rolling blackouts.
"We have one big power plant go off, and all of a sudden you're in an emergency alert type situation," said Carey King, assistant director of the Energy Institute at the University of Texas.
ERCOT said they have a number of tools they can use before resorting to blackouts, such as dipping into emergency reserves.
However, there are concerns about later this summer.
"This is not as hot as it can get," said Lewin.
Texas grid survives energy demand, but concerns remain over ERCOT’s summer preparedness
Heat conditions led ERCOT to raise its alert status to yellow Monday afternoon. If it reaches red, that means residents should prepare for outages. Black means ERCOT has instructed local utilities to begin controlled outages.
If not outages, experts say conservation days could become the norm.
"You should expect this kind of thing to happen probably for every hot day for the rest of the summer. There's not going to be that much more new generation brought online or these kinds of things," said King.
FOX 7 asked ERCOT why this particular alert wasn’t issued sooner. An ERCOT spokesperson said in an email: "Conditions changed enough for us to need to send it. We didn’t want to ask if it wasn’t necessary."
But some say given the conditions, there should have been no question.
"They knew it was a problem. Everybody knew it was a problem," said Lewin. "They should not have waited as long as they did. I don't understand it. I can't explain it."