ERCOT issues statewide conservation appeal for second day
DALLAS - ERCOT has issued another conservation appeal for Tuesday between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. in hopes of preventing widespread power outages.
So far, the Texas power grid has held up during this latest artic blast.
Grid conditions are expected to be tight Tuesday morning as people are waking-up and getting ready for work and school.
As of Monday evening, ERCOT's website showed projected electricity demand at 8 a.m. Tuesday to exceed the seasonal available supply. This does not necessarily mean there will be outages as these projections do not take into account conservation efforts nor ERCOT's demand response program that would incentivize industrial plants to power down if grid conditions became too tight.
ERCOT vastly overestimated electricity demand for Monday morning. ERCOT forecasted a demand peak at 9 a.m. Monday at more than 83,000 MW. The actual demand was less than 75,000 MW.
Natural gas, which fuels more than half of the available electricity early during morning hours, has so far only seen a slight decline in production due to the cold.
Available wind and solar power supply is projected to be at its lowest Tuesday in the morning and will pick up throughout the day.