ERCOT issues Conservation Appeal for Thursday; what should you know?
HOUSTON - Due to low wind power and high demand, operating reserves for ERCOT are expected to be low for several hours Thursday afternoon into the evening. As a result, ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve electricity use. This is in effect until 10 p.m. Thursday.
All government agencies (including city and county offices) are asked to implement all programs to reduce energy use at their facilities.
ERCOT is not experiencing emergency conditions at this time, but forecasts are showing a high potential to enter emergency operations. Help from Texans to conserve electricity use will assist grid reliability.
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"We rely far more today than we did five years ago on some of the renewable resources that are a little bit more intermittent. We do have this transition period in, where we have a lot of solar output, then that solar output goes to 0, as we get into those evening and nighttime hours.
"What we see in the past is when we get more wind in the evening hours, they kind of off-set one another a little bit more, but with this little wind pattern, it’s not enough to off-set the reduction output from our solar resources," said Jesson Bradshaw, CEO of Energy Ogre.
ERCOT is using additional tools to manage the grid reliably, including using reserve power, calling upon reductions by large electric customers that have volunteered to lower their energy use, and bringing more generation online sooner. ERCOT is also working with out-of-state Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Market Participants to obtain additional power generation capacity.
Meanwhile, Houstonians are also asked to plan ahead as the city enters Stage 2 of the Drought Contingency Plan this Sunday, August 27th.
Residents will only be allowed outdoor water usage from 7 p.m. until 5 a.m. on the following schedule:
- Single-family residential customers with even-numbered addresses will be allowed to water their lawns on Sundays and Thursdays.
- Odd numbered homes are allotted on Wednesdays and Saturdays.
- All other customers on Tuesdays and Fridays
City Councilmember Amy Peck urges Houstonians to take the notice seriously so the city can avoid going into Stage 3.
"Entering stage 3 would result in no watering outdoors allowed at all. And with no real rain chances in the horizon that could be pretty bad. So this is just asking for everyone to do their part right now and every little bit really does add up," Peck said.
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Officials also urge residents to repair water leaks, take shorter showers, and avoid using dishwashers and washing machines unless the loads are completely full.
Those who don’t comply with the water conservation notice schedule could face up to a $2,000 fine.
Conservation is a widely used industry tool that can help lower demand for a specific period of peak demand time, which is typically late afternoon into the evening hours. Energy-saving tips can be found on the TXANS webpage at ercot.com/txans.
If you are experiencing an outage at this time, it is local in nature and not related to overall grid reliability. Check with your local electric provider for more information.
Why the Request to Reduce Usage?
- Extreme Heat. Continued statewide extreme temperatures today.
- Record Demand. Texas continues to experience near-record demand due to the heat.
- Wind. Wind generation is forecasted to be low this afternoon during peak demand time and does not increase until very late in the evening.
- Solar. Solar generation declines into the evening hours, before completely going offline at sunset.
- Switchable Capacity. Independent System Operators (ISOs) in other states are going through similar extreme heat conditions and have asked for switchable generation resource capacity back to assist their regions. These switchable generation resources are within the primary control of other ISOs.
Peak Demand
- ERCOT set a new, all-time, unofficial peak demand record of 85,435 MW on August 10, 2023.
- In 2022, the August peak demand was 78,465 MW.
- This summer, ERCOT has set 10 new all-time peak demand records.
- Last summer, ERCOT set 11 new peak demand records with a high of 80,148 MW on July 20.
Consumer Assistance
- Public Utility Commission of Texas Hotline: 1-888-782-8477
Stay Updated
- Sign up for TXANS notifications on the TXANS webpage.
- Download the ERCOT Mobile App for additional notifications: iOS | Android.
- Monitor real-time and extended conditions at ercot.com.
- Subscribe to ERCOT Emergency Alerts which are not sent through TXANS notifications.
- Follow ERCOT on Twitter (@ERCOT_ISO), Facebook (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), and LinkedIn (ERCOT).