ERCOT urges power conservation Thursday over high potential for ‘emergency operations’
The state’s power grid manager is urging Texans to conserve electricity Thursday because of a “high potential to enter emergency operations” due to soaring demand.
Low energy reserves are expected Thursday afternoon and into the night, prompting the conservation appeal for the hours of 3 to 10 p.m., the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said.
“ERCOT is not experiencing emergency conditions at this time, but forecasts are showing a high potential to enter emergency operations this evening because of expected low wind-power generation and high demand,” an ERCOT news release reads. “Help from Texans to conserve electricity use will assist grid reliability.”
An ERCOT official was not available for an interview.
In addition to the conservation request, ERCOT is also using reserve power, calling on large electric customers to lower their energy use and working with out-of-state grid operators to get additional power generation capacity. Some of those operators are also dealing with extreme heat and have asked for “switchable generation resource capacity back to assist their regions.” ERCOT declined to name which operators in an email to the Star-Telegram.
Factors contributing to the conservation call include extreme heat and high electricity demand, forecasted low wind generation Thursday afternoon and declining solar generation as the sun sets, according to ERCOT.
ERCOT is asking local governments to reduce energy usage at their facilities.
Current outages are local and not related to overall grid reliability.
Ways to save energy include raising thermostat temperatures by a couple degrees, avoiding the use of large appliances and unplugging appliances that aren’t essential.
ERCOT has three levels of Energy Emergency Alerts, using tools meet power demand as electricity reserves drop. The third level includes possible controlled power outages.
The grid had enough power to meet demand as 2 p.m. approached Thursday.
This story was originally published August 24, 2023 at 1:27 PM.
