SAN ANTONIO – ERCOT is urging Texas to conserve energy on Monday, as we are expected to see triple-digit temperatures again.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is an independent nonprofit that helps operate and manage the power grid that covers most of Texas.
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In a news release, ERCOT is urging people and businesses to voluntarily conserve electricity between 2 p.m. - 8 p.m. and to watch for “a projected reserve capacity shortage.” However, it said no system-wide outages are expected.
All electric customers are encouraged to visit the Public Utility Commission’s (PUC) Power to Save or their electric provider’s websites for more conservation tips.
Some of the ways to conserve energy include turning up your thermostat a degree or two, if comfortable, or unplugging appliances not in use.
According to ERCOT, these two factors are driving the need for conservation among customers:
- Record high electric demand. The heat wave that has settled on Texas and much of the central United States is driving increased electric use. Other grid operators are operating under similar conservative operations programs as ERCOT due to the heatwave.
- Low wind. While solar power is generally reaching near full generation capacity, wind generation is currently generating significantly less than what it historically generated in this time period. Current projections show wind generation coming in less than 10 percent of its capacity.
Under current projected scenarios, the tightest hour of energy use is estimated to be at 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
The total forecasted demand is 79,761 megawatts.
Also on KSAT:
CPS Energy encourages customers to conserve energy Sunday, Monday