ERCOT Expecting Record Breaking Heat In Texas This Weekend
It's going to be a hot weekend in Texas and that means all eyes will be on ERCOT and whether the grid will hold. After the winter storm in 2021 pushed the grid to the brink and power outages led to hundreds of deaths, Texas lawmakers pushed through reforms that the Governor and other Republican lawmakers said would improve the electric grid in Texas.
No winter storm in 2022 matched the strength of the winter storm in 2021 and the grid held fine during cold months. But now Texas is warming up and many have said that the true test of the grid would come in the Summer when Texans turn up the air conditioning.
According to the Houston Chronicle, this weekend could be a real test for ERCOT as temperatures begin to rise.
According to Austin-based energy consultant Doug Lewin, the Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is expecting demand for power to reach 69.3 gigawatts on Saturday, May 7 as temperatures in Houston and Dallas hit highs in the low-to-mid '90s and eclipse 100 in towns such as Midland and Laredo.
"This Saturday, ERCOT expects 69.3GW of demand, an insane amount for a weekend in early May," Lewin tweeted Monday, estimating that the figure would likely be a record for energy demand on the state grid in the month of May.
It was reported on Monday that ERCOT is expecting 20 gigawatts of Texas thermal plants powered by coal and gas to be offline for maintenance. On Tuesday however, the Houston Chronicle reported that ERCOT has asked power plants to delay their outages and that they believe there will be enough generation to meet demand. If there isn't, Texas could see potential blackout conditions this weekend.
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