SAN ANTONIO — The Texas grid operator, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas or ERCOT, released its summer assessment report Thursday. It takes an in-depth look at what demand for power will be during the hottest part of the year. Many are still concerned after February’s deadly winter storm, we could lose power, again.
Expected is record-breaking demand for power from June to September. That is because of hot and dry weather along with more people moving into Texas.
ERCOT said it is prepared for the peak demand this summer. Plus, it has an adequate reserve margin of power, should it be needed. New this year, the grid operator took into account extreme scenarios. ERCOT said there is less than a one percent chance they will happen. The worst-case scenario, the one that could lead to outages this summer, is extremely hot temperatures, power generators that go down, and low wind conditions all at the same time. ERCOT said outages are a last resort.
The grid operator said it is working to regain the trust of Texans by trying to communicate better with the public when the situation is critical. So still expect energy alerts this summer.
“Obviously, we are committed to proactively improving our communication practices, working with the Public Utility Commission, and working internally in order to make sure that that information is released as soon as we possibly can with the understanding that sometimes the potential for emergency conditions can hit very, very quickly,” said Warren Lasher, senior director of systems planning for ERCOT.
The good news is, unlike the sustained freezing temperatures we saw this winter, even during a long stretch of hot weather, the power grid gets a break.
“We saw in 2011, we had 100 days over 100 degrees, 100 days in a row, over a hundred degrees, which is really, really hot, but it still cooled off at night,” said Joshua Rhodes, an expert on Texas power. “So, we got some relief in the night. It didn't stay 100 for 24 hours, for 48 hours or 72 hours back to back.”
Also, new this year, ERCOT will be visiting power plants in the state to check on summer weatherization.