SAN ANTONIO — After 3 straight days of pleas from ERCOT to conserve energy, they are now watching weather conditions for Sunday. Triple digits temperatures could once again have the agency sending out another plea for conservation.
The scorching heat continues to impact the energy grid, and water. City officials say the demand for energy across Texas is out pacing the state's generation capacity.
CPS Energy CEO Rudy Garza says while systems at CPS Energy as well as ERCOT have held up this summer, the extreme heat is increasing the possibility for power outages.
"Most customers, if you do experience a potential outage, you'll experience an outage for 15 minutes," said Garza.
Garza adds the changing weather pattern is to blame, while demand has increased.
"Wind has started to ramp down a little earlier in the evening, along the same time that solar typically ramps down," said Garza.
We asked ERCOT if there have been any down power sources. The agency says they do not comment on specific operations, but that information is tracked on-line.
On Thursday, the first day ERCOT requested conservation, there were at least two natural gas plants that went offline. The two plants went offline because of hot weather. The hot weather is also impacting our water.
The dryer conditions shifts soil, add in over pumping of water, and it's the perfect storm for water main leaks.
"You get that turbulence vibration and sometimes that water hammer going, and add everything else going on and the pipe gives in," said Karen Guz, SAWS VP of Water Conservation.
On Friday, there were about 200 active leaks. A SAWS spokesperson said there have been about 820 so far this month, a record compared to recent years. They are also asking for conservation by watering just once a week.
"We're in a very serious drought. Following the rules matters," said Guz.