The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas issued a voluntary conservation notice Thursday, asking consumers to reduce energy use from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. when electricity demand was projected to come close to the committed supply, according to data from the state’s grid operator.
The narrow gap between supply and demand of electricity on the grid came as a result of three factors: high demand, outages of natural gas and coal plants and low wind production, according to Doug Lewin, president of Stoic Energy Consulting.
Even though Thursday’s electricity demand is not projected to break the record of 85,435 megawatts set last week, it has reached 84,669 megawatts, according to preliminary data from ERCOT.
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“It's easy to become numb to these numbers because we keep hitting it day after day. It’s phenomenal amounts of power,” Lewin said.
ERCOT cited low wind generation as part of the reason for lower amounts of electricity supply available on the grid Thursday.
Anticipating the crunch, retail electricity provider Reliant on Thursday morning asked customers to conserve power from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
"We are following ERCOT’s lead as the grid operator and will help amplify ERCOT’s voluntary call for conservation," Meranda Cohn, a spokesperson for TXU, said.
At mid-morning Thursday, ERCOT projected the tightest supply and demand conditions would come around 4:30 p.m., when both were expected to be close to 85,000 megawatts. One megawatt can power about 200 Texas homes during periods of high demand, according to ERCOT.
After the conservation request, which ERCOT issued around 11:30 a.m., demand between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. declined. As of 4:30 p.m., narrowest gap between supply and demand had shifted to the 8 p.m. hour, when solar energy resources ramp down but demand still remains high.
"In the old days, and by old days I mean before 2020, the peak was 4 to 6 p.m. because that's the hottest part of the day," said Michael Webber, a professor of energy resources at the University of Teas at Austin. "But because of the rapid build-out of solar over the last three years, "this is the first year that we're really seeing tight conditions later in the evening."
It is the second such conservation notice ERCOT has issued this summer. The state has set 10 preliminary records for electricity demand this summer, as record-high temperatures have baked the southwest.
Despite the request, as of 4:30 p.m., the state's grid was not in emergency operations, during which ERCOT would deploy various tools to reduce demand and, if conditions escalate to the highest level of emergency, initiate rotating outages to mitigate further damage to the grid. Other outages Thursday were not related to issues with the grid, ERCOT said in its conservation request.
To conserve power, the grid operator suggested residents set their thermostats a degree or two higher, avoid using large appliances such as washers or dryers, turn off and unplug non-essential lights and appliances and turn off pool pumps. Businesses can turn off lights and equipment in spaces that are not in use and turn off air-conditioning outside of business hours.
ERCOT has also requested that government agencies implement all programs to reduce energy at their facilities.
ERCOT manages 90 percent of the state’s electricity grid and acts as both the traffic control for the flow of electricity across the state and as the trading floor for the wholesale electricity market.
As of 11 a.m., the grid was operating under normal conditions with ample supply, with demand at just over 67,300 megawatts and committed capacity of about 84,800 megawatts, according to the ERCOT website. Committed capacity refers to the amount of power available from electricity generators that are online or providing reserves – and forecast committed capacity is based on generators’ current operating plans as well as forecast wind and solar output.
Thus far, natural gas generators and solar energy resources have kept the grid afloat through an unprecedented stretch of triple-degree heat. On Thursday, temperatures could reach 104 degrees and tie the daily record high set in 1909, according to Houston Chronicle meteorologist Justin Ballard.
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August 18, 2023 at 12:26AM
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ERCOT issues voluntary electricity conservation notice for Texas - Houston Chronicle
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