Texans set new winter power demand record trying to warm up
Texans waking up to bitter cold Tuesday morning set a new winter power demand record trying to warm up, but the power grid held strong during the most extreme winter temperatures in three years.
The CEO of ERCOT Pablo Vegas credited conservation by customers with keeping the heat on during the morning hours, as well as the winterization of generators helping avoid unexpected shutdowns.
ERCOT had forecast demand Tuesday to be 11% higher than the mark of 78,138 MW average it reached at 8 a.m. Vegas said even as temperatures dropped though, they watched demand drop, noting a 500 MW reduction in the Houston area he attributed to conservation.
Texans also seemed to be getting used to the cold as the days wore on. Vegas said the rate of increase in demand dropped each morning from Sunday through Tuesday, even though the temperatures dropped lower.
"We're going to want to be a little more conservative at ERCOT, because we don't want to ever count on something that we can't guarantee shows up," Vegas said. "So we appreciate the response that we got especially during this event. It was clearly impactful. But we know that every event can be different."
Although it was clear demand would not reach forecast highs, he said the cushion provided customers willingness to conserve, and companies able to immediately reduce their usage, has to be balanced with the unpredictability or plants going down, or renewable sources putting out lower than expected supply.
The latter wasn't a problem Tuesday, with solar power setting a new daily record of 14,386 MW, and nearly triple the supply of the previous day during the high demand morning hour.