ERCOT asks Texans to voluntarily reduce electric use due to high demand
ERCOT sent out an alert Thursday asking people to voluntarily conserve energy.
The grid held up, but we have several more days of intense heat across the state.
On the hottest day of the year, ERCOT issued a voluntary conservation alert, asking residents and businesses to conserve energy between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Record high temperatures were back Thursday in North Texas, causing near-record demand on the power grid.
New ERCOT website to warn of possible power shortages
As the temperatures rise this summer, ERCOT is rolling out a new system to give Texans a heads up about when they may need to conserve energy.
FOX 4 asked energy expert Doug Lewin about the strain caused by the streak of triple-digit days we’ve seen this month.
"The cumulative impact of that having a whole summer full of 100-degree days and 100-degree days. It does take a toll on the grid. And I think that is why ERCOT called for conservation," he said.
ERCOT’s website shows peak demand Thursday just under 85,000 megawatts just after 5 p.m. That’s closing in on the all-time peak demand record.
"A conservation notice doesn’t mean that anything is going to happen on the grid. It doesn’t mean the power is going to go out. They ask people to conserve just in case something unexpectedly breaks so they have enough power going around," explained energy expert Joshua D. Rhodes.
Between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., the graph showed the purple supply line and the blue demand line creeping closer. But the power grid so far has held up.
ERCOT assured it’s not in emergency operations as Texas battled record heat Thursday. Friday is forecasted to be even hotter.
"Things are tight out there. But I know there are other tools that do not show up on those lines that ERCOT does have. If things do get tighter, they can call on. I don’t really see an issue," Rhodes said.
Even though Friday might be hotter with the high at 110, both energy experts believe we will have more energy supply than we had Thursday.
Dallas weather: Record heat is on the way
We hope you enjoyed a break from the heat earlier this week, because it is coming back with a vengeance.