ERCOT Recommendations: 5 Things To Know

ACROSS TEXAS — As temperatures reach the triple digits across the Lone Star State, ERCOT is continuing to ask Texans to conserve energy through Friday.

On Monday, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas issued a conservation alert on electricity use because electric demand was predicted to outpace supply that evening.

Since then, Texans have reduced their power usage, but conservation is still needed.

Here's five things to know about ERCOT's latest recommendations.

Why was a conservation alert issued?

As temperatures reached the triple digits Monday, a significant number of power plants went unexpectedly offline at the same time as Texans were expected to use a record amount of electricity this week.

With the plants being down, this resulted in “tight” grid conditions, which means there is not much more supply of electricity available than demand.

Officials said power grids must keep supply and demand in balance at all times. So, when Texas’ grid falls below its safety margin of excess supply, the grid operator starts taking additional precautions to avoid blackouts, ERCOT said.

The first precaution is to ask the public to cut back electricity usage, which ERCOT did Monday afternoon.

MORE ON THAT STORY: Texans Asked To Conserve Energy As State Hits Triple Digits

How much power were Texans using?

ERCOT said a new June record was set Monday for electricity demand.

Based on preliminary data, the new record is 69,943 Megawatts, which exceeds the 2018 June record by approximately 820 Megawatts.

As a result, approximately 12,000 megawatts of power generation were offline Monday afternoon — enough to power 2.4 million homes on a hot summer day. Authorities said that was several times more than what ERCOT would expect in June.

About 1,200 Megawatts of power was regained overnight Monday when some repairs were completed. One Megawatt typically powers around 200 homes on a summer day, officials said.

What should Texans do to conserve energy?

ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve power each after afternoon between 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday.

Under the conservation alert, residential customers should set thermostat to 78 degrees or higher, close drapes and blinds, turn off and unplug nonessential devices and to avoid using larger appliances like ovens or washing machines.

Officials said conservation efforts combined with the changes in procedures and processes implemented by ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission of Texas can help prevent the possibility of rotating outages and ensures that Texans do not lose power.

More conservation tips are available at the Power To Save Texas website or your local energy delivery company or Retail Electric Provider.

Here's how to track electricity demand:

• View daily peak demand forecast, current load and available generation at ERCOT's website.
• Follow ERCOT on Twitter and Facebook.
• Sign up for the ERCOT mobile app.
• Subscribe to the EmergencyAlerts list on ERCOT lists.

Why wasn't ERCOT prepared for record-breaking usage this summer?

Warren Lasher, ERCOT senior director of systems planning, told the Texas Tribune Monday that having this many plant outages in June is “not consistent” with previous summers and called the situation “very concerning.”

ERCOT officials told the Tribune it plans to conduct an analysis to determine why so many units were offline this week.

Some experts theorized that the winter storm in February may have caused damage to plants that is causing new complications, but ERCOT officials did not offer any details, the Tribune reports.

What does this mean for the rest of the summer? Are we going to have another blackout?

ERCOT officials said it “appears unlikely” that the ERCOT grid would need to implement outages, like it did in February, to reduce strain on the grid. However, it is unclear if Texans will experience widespread electricity blackouts later this summer.

After the winter storm, ERCOT warned that Texans could experience electricity outages this summer if the state sees a severe heat wave or drought that drives up demand for power.

ERCOT included in its annual forecast ahead of summer, extreme, low likelihood scenarios that would each leave the grid short a significant amount of power, which would trigger outages to residents.

Back in February, ERCOT anticipated there would be enough generation to meet the summer 2021 peak demand of 77,144 Megawatts (a 15.7 percent margin). This expected usage was almost reached Monday.