AUSTIN, Texas — Editor's note: The historical record was updated from 2022 to July 12, 2023.
The hot weather this week may set a new power demand for Texas.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages most of the power grid in Texas.
Its forecast shows it may reach 84,221 megawatts on Thursday. Wednesday, a record was set at more than 81,350 megawatts during the 6:00 p.m. hour.
That difference is like doubling the amount of energy for homes in Williamson and Bastrop counties.
ERCOT’s dashboard shows we should have enough power supply to meet demand. It’s predicted to be 90,218 megawatts.
Last month, ERCOT asked Texas to conserve electricity. It was not considered to be an emergency condition at that time.
ERCOT records show power reserve capacity would need to drop below 3,000 megawatts for ERCOT to issue a Control Room Advisory.
Once reserves hit less than 2,500 megawatts, ERCOT will issue a Control Room Watch:
- Emergency level one – reserves <2,300 megawatts but greater than 1,750 MW and it is not expected to recover within 30 minutes
- Emergency level two – reserves <1,750 megawatts but greater than 1,000 MW and is not expected to recover within 30 minutes
- If reserves drop below 1,000 megawatts or if the frequency is below 59.91 hertz for 30 minutes, rolling blackouts would begin.
Local power outages may happen regardless of the ERCOT power grid reserves.
In Austin, about 8,000 people lost power on June 15 due to heat causing equipment failure on Austin Energy’s distribution power lines.