AUSTIN, Texas — Sky-high heat prompted Texas’ grid operator to call on people across the state to conserve electricity as the state's electricity system was pushed to near emergency conditions Monday.
A conservation alert from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas was in effect for much of Monday afternoon as demand threatened to outpace supply and brought back memories of the power grid’s near failure during the February 2021 freeze that killed more than 200 Texans.
ERCOT sought to allay any fears of rolling blackouts even as it put out operations messages late Sunday that alluded to dire market conditions. But as the high heat of an extended heat wave pushed the grid to the limit, reserves remained outside of emergency conditions. The lights — and air conditioners — stayed on.
But frustration with a grid that seems to be always on the verge of the brink remains prompted a political response.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke renewed his attacks on Gov. Greg Abbott over the grid’s stability.
“The grid will keep failing us until we fix it,” O’Rourke tweeted. “Abbott will keep failing us until we defeat him.”
Abbott said the grid performed as expected, telling Austin station KVUE the grid performed “remarkably well.”
“We’ve made it through all of these tough days with plenty of supply, and we believe that going forward with the new tools ERCOT now has and the PUC now has, we will be able to make it through the summer,” Abbott said.
Meanwhile, Abbott’s campaign spokesman Mark Miner accused O’Rourke of “scare-mongering.”
“Beto should stop cheering for the failure of Texas and admit the reforms pushed by Governor Abbott have strengthened the state grid,” Miner said in a news release.
Texas state Rep. Dennis Bonnen also accused O’Rourke’s supporters of wishing for disaster for political gain. Bonnen also noted that conservation requests are relatively commonplace.
ERCOT has used them 48 times since 2008 when projected reserves fall to a certain level, according to a news release.
Some Republicans focused on the lack of production from wind energy, which generally sees relatively low amounts of electricity generated during high heat days.
ERCOT projected wind energy would be generating “significantly less” than expected on a typical day in June. Wind power bottomed out at a meager 746 megawatts at 1 p.m. Central time Monday, less than one-third of what the grid operator projected in its Sunday night forecast.
Austin-based energy consultant Doug Lewin said ERCOT’s focus on low wind production appeared to be a thinly veiled political attack. “They’ve got great staff, they’re technocrats, they’re smart, and then they just put themselves in the middle of this political firestorm.”
“A hot summer’s day at noon, you’re going to have low wind (production),” Lewin continued. “If this is news to ERCOT, then that’s distressing and begs a lot of questions. ... Their own numbers from seven days ago basically projected that perfectly, so why wait until 10 o’clock the night before and say low wind is the problem.”
Grid expert Alison Silverstein, an energy consultant who formerly worked with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Public Utility Commission of Texas, also said any blame placed on wind energy would be misplaced, “particularly at a time when the PUC and politicians are beating their chest over, ‘We need dispatchable thermal energy because it is the only thing we trust to keep the lights on.’”
“Wind is doing exactly what historically we expect it to do, and no one installs wind with the expectation that you will get 100% capacity production on a hot summer day,” Silverstein said.
As the conservation alert came to an end Monday, several North Texans said they attempted several things to conserve energy throughout the day, including turning off lights, setting thermostats up to 78 degrees and avoiding large appliances. One person said they shut their air off completely to avoid damage to their air conditioning units in case of a possible power surge, while others said they did nothing different during the alert.
ERCOT’s grid and market dashboard showed demand reaching a peak of 78,379 megawatts at roughly 4:40 p.m. That’s a new record and marks the seventh time the all-time demand record has been broken since June 12, according to ERCOT spokesman Chris Schein.
It might not last, though.
An ERCOT forecast issued at 5:30 p.m. projected demand topping out at north of 79,000 megawatts Tuesday and Wednesday. Either would be a record.
ERCOT had not issued any further conservation alert as of 8 p.m. Monday, though grid experts told the Dallas Morning News that they would not be surprised if the grid operator issued one at some point this week while high heat remains.
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(Reporter Nataly Keomoungkhoun contributed to this report from Dallas.)
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