Texas arctic blast: Power grid holds, but ERCOT conservation request remains

It was cold enough to freeze fountains on Monday morning, cold enough to coat vehicles with a thin layer of ice and cold enough to dust a few neighborhood roads with some snow. 

However, was it cold enough to prevent the lights from coming on? That was a big question for people like Sam Stair.

"I just bundled up with all my blankets and cross my fingers that my heater didn't go off," said Stair.

The grid held, despite the deep freeze and an earlier warning from ERCOT. Wind farms were expected to underperform and demand for power was expected to exceed supply. There were several possible reasons rolling black-outs didn't happen, according to Ed Hirs, Energy Fellow at the University of Houston.

"We did get tight. The frequency dipped significantly. I'm not sure what turned that around, whether some load went off-line. In terms of the buyouts like ERCOT does with the Bitcoin or whether consumers as a whole just dialed back their heat by five degrees, or whether we had another generator come online that we weren't expecting, but we made it through this morning," said Hirs.

MORE WINTER WEATHER COVERAGE

On Sunday night, ERCOT set a new January peak demand of almost 71,000 mw. That record didn't last. By mid-morning Monday another record was set with a new winter peak demand exceeding 75,000 mw.

"I think ERCOT, by its own math, is very concerned. There's not enough coal-fired, natural gas fired, nuclear fired power plants, plus the batteries to get us through a very cold night or one with freezing precipitation. Um, it's important that everybody needs to be alert to this. Keep in mind, we have a, what, almost another million people that we had three years ago. That's a lot more demand. The forecast demand for tomorrow is larger than the hottest day we had in the summer. Um. We're strained," said Hirs.

ERCOT issued a new conservation advisory on Monday, which included requesting all state and local government agencies to reduce energy use at their facilities until at least 9 a.m., Tuesday. That seems to be an acknowledgment of criticism that followed the 2021 power crisis. Many still remember how downtown lights stayed on while the suburbs went dark.

"At the beginning of December, ERCOT pointed out that had we had a storm like we had a year ago, December, uh, there's a 1 in 6 chance of rolling blackouts," said Hirs.

State lawmakers created a low interest loan program to get investors to build new power plants Texas. Hirs told FOX7 that program has yet to pan out. For utility customers, Hirs admits, there are few options.

"The only thing we can do as consumers is dial back our heat. You know, instead of 68, maybe put it to 65. Don't run the major appliances and bundle up. Stay inside," said Hirs.

In a media release, ERCOT officials said the agency is using additional tools to manage the grid. The plan includes accessing additional reserve power, having large customers reduce power consumption, and ramping up generation.

"ERCOT is also working with out-of-state Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Market Participants to obtain additional power generation capacity, if available. ERCOT has obtained Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) enforcement discretion, which allows a generator to extend its service/run-time/operations to help meet demand, if needed, and maintain grid reliability," stated ERCOT officials in the release.

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