ERCOT issues third voluntary conservation notice of the summer

ERCOT issues Weather Watch

ERCOT has issued a Weather Watch for the latter half of this week, just 24 hours after its third conservation notice for this summer.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Electric Reliability Council of Texas issued a Weather Watch Monday afternoon for Aug. 23-27, less than 24 hours after issuing the third voluntary conservation notice of the summer.

Sunday’s voluntary conservation notice was issued around 4 p.m. for a three-hour evening window due to high heat, high demand and "an unexpected loss of thermal generation."

"At that point, there were 6,800 megawatts - right around there - offline. That's about 35% higher than typical levels. It is not where ERCOT defines high," said Doug Lewin, author of the Texas Energy and Power Newsletter. "But because it's so hot, because demand was so high, even that small increment more of thermal generation going offline was enough in their view to prompt a conservation call."

While the incessant sun has been a thorn in the side of many Texans, it has been beneficial as a power source.

"There would have been a conservation call from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. if we didn't have a lot of solar in the state," said Lewin. "Solar has been a big part of the story this summer…But that does create a challenge in the evening hours. Storage is uniquely suited to help with that. Storage helped a whole lot last night, and with each passing year, we add storage that will help to solve those problems."

ERCOT issues voluntary conservation notice

The notice went into effect at 7 p.m. Sunday evening and lasts until 10 p.m.

According to Lewin, along with expanding battery storage capacity, top priorities should include weatherization of power plants and implementing an energy-efficient ‘demand response program’ - something a bit more controllable than solar and more effective than conservation notices.

"Demand is a place where a grid operator actually can have control. If you think of all the things in your home that you don't really care when it runs, as long as it runs and works, things like electric hot water heaters, things like pool pumps - they don't need to be running during these critical hours where conditions are scarce, prices are really high, and you can have programs for customers and actually get paid for it," said Lewin. "So that residential demand response is a huge missing element from the market."

Austin weather: More days of triple digits

The hot streak continues for at least another week. Zack Shields has all the details in his latest full forecast.

MORE TEXAS NEWS

Edward Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, noted that most power plants on the grid are mechanical. Natural gas power plants average 30 years in age and coal-fired plants average 50 years.

There isn't adequate time to take them offline and do the maintenance that's required.

"We're kind of left with this patchwork market with Band-Aids stuck on it here and there and a strategy of hope more than one of executive leadership."

Hirs said grid stability issues directly related to Winter Storm Uri have been improved upon, but he said fundamental flaws remain.

"Everyone knows that wind and solar are intermittent supplies. And so if we're going to rely more and more on them, we need to balance the reliability aspect of the ERCOT grid and that means either a huge build-out of batteries or the retention and expansion of natural gas power plants."

You can check real-time grid conditions on ERCOT’s website, as well as sign up for alerts from ERCOT.