ERCOT requests conservation from power consumers during record heat

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas issued an alert Sunday evening warning of a short power reserve expected for Monday.

ERCOT said it was issuing a “conservation appeal” which asks power consumers to voluntarily conserve electricity between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday.  It is due to an expected reserve shortage, though the grid operator said no system-wide outages are expected.

The KTSA AccuWeather forecast for Monday in San Antonio calls for record-breaking heat with a high temperature expected to reach 107 degrees and an AccuWeather RealFeel upwards of 115 degrees.

ERCOT said the need for conservation comes from two factors: high electric demand and low wind power generation.

Regarding the high electricity demand, ERCOT said the high heat is expected to bring electricity use to record levels across the state.  It also said other grid operators are also issuing similar conservation alerts.

ERCOT said wind power is expected to underperform due low wind.  About 85 percent of traditional power generation means is expected to be used in the 2 o’clock hour Monday and 81 percent of solar power is expected to be used.  Together, both have a generation capacity of 91,870 megawatts, through about 77,470 megawatts will be be available — about 84 percent together.

However, of the more than 35,000 megawatts capable of being produced by wind sources, only about 2,700 megawatts will be available due to low wind speeds.  That is only eight percent of its generation capacity.

ERCOT estimates the power demand for that hour will be 79,671 megawatts from a pool of 80,168 megawatts expected to be available.  ERCOT issues a conservation alert when the expected demand and expected available electricity is fewer than 2,300 megawatts.