PUC hears from ERCOT about what caused Texas' power grid to enter emergency conditions last week
AUSTIN, Texas - The state’s power grid operator revealed it might not have had as much cushion as it thought when the grid entered emergency conditions earlier this month.
Officials with ERCOT briefed state regulators Thursday on what went wrong.
ERCOT said it’s still in the process of analyzing everything that happened the night of September 6.
It also indicated that the conservation requests that became the norm this summer might be the norm for the near future.
On Thursday, on a damp and cooler day, more fitting for September in Texas, state regulators in Austin reviewed one of the many hot days to stress the grid this summer and the only one to plunge it into emergency conditions.
"There was no headroom left, and so in order to find some headroom, we went into EEA2," ERCOT COO Woody Rickerson recalled.
The meeting was ERCOT’s first opportunity to explain what happened back on September 6.
Texas avoids blackouts after ERCOT issues emergency alert
Texas came closer to rolling blackouts Wednesday night than it has all summer.
That’s when, at 7:25 in the evening, ERCOT issued a Level 2 Energy Emergency.
The tightest conditions this summer have often come as the sun sets and solar energy ramps down before wind ramps up, but that night, there was a high amount of wind generation in the south that a transmission line could not get to the north.
Commissioners also believe gas and coal outages in the north made things worse.
"I think there is a big discussion that’s missing on the thermal outages in the north. I was remiss that this letter that was sent to us didn’t talk about them at all, but from conversations I’ve had with you all at ERCOT, that was one of the reasons this transmission line became overloaded," said Jimmy Glotfelty, who is a commissioner on the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
ERCOT also revealed why the frequency, a key indicator of the grid’s health, suddenly dropped, spurring the move into emergency conditions.
Officials said they might not have had as many reserves in the tank as they thought.
"We are looking for why it might not have been accurate," Rickerson said. "There are several possible reasons, but we’re waiting to see what that report says before we speculate what caused that."
HOUSTON, TEXAS - JUNE 09: An electric generator is seen at the CenterPoint Energy powerplant on June 09, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Power demand in Texas is expected to set new all-time highs as heatwaves surge to levels rarely seen outside of summer, a
ERCOT also briefed commissioners on conservation requests.
In August and September alone, ERCOT asked Texans to cut back on electricity use voluntarily 10 times.
ERCOT said that strategy worked, but said it couldn’t distinguish how much it helps since it’s often paired with other strategies, and added that it also might be the norm for the near future.
"Is this going to be the future Woody? What do you think, is this something you see?" Will McAdams said.
"These solar ramp down, tight evenings? Yes," Rickerson said.
ERCOT also talked about what to expect for the winter.
They said if we do have tight conditions, it’ll likely come in the morning, as people crank up heat and businesses start, and before the solar has started to ramp up.