AUSTIN, Texas — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is asking Texans to conserve electricity Thursday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. as it anticipates its operating reserves will be low for several hours.
ERCOT is asking all government agencies to implement all programs to reduce energy at their facilities.
The power grid manager said it is not experiencing emergency conditions, but forecasts are showing a high potential to enter emergency operations Thursday evening because of expected low wind-power generation and high demand.
ERCOT said it is using additional tools to manage the grid reliably, and it is working with out-of-state Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Market Participants to obtain additional power generation capacity.
ERCOT said any outages as of noon Thursday are local in nature and not related to overall grid reliability.
ERCOT set a new, all-time, unofficial peak demand record of 85,435 MW on Aug. 10. In 2022, the August peak demand was 78,465 MW.
So far this summer, ERCOT has set 10 new all-time peak demand records. Last summer, it set 11, with a high of 80,148 MW on July 20.
To stay updated on grid conditions and notices from ERCOT, you can sign up for TXANS notifications, download ERCOT's app, monitor real-time and extended conditions on ERCOT's website, subscribe to ERCOT Emergency Alerts or follow ERCOT on social media.