ERCOT Asked and Texas Listened, and the Power Stayed On

Power stayed on (for most) Monday and Wednesday, despite record-breaking energy demand (Courtesy of Getty Images)

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas' call for energy conservation seemed to work Monday, despite power demand breaking a record for the third time this July. ERCOT was prepared to cut off large industrial consumers, and a worst-case scenario would have meant initiating rolling blackouts, despite Gov. Greg Abbott's continued assurances that the power would stay on. ERCOT asked for conservation again Wednesday and there hadn't been blackouts as of press time for the Chronicle.

Monday afternoon, more than 3,000 houses lost power in East Austin, along with more than 2,000 blacked out in Southwest Austin, according to Austin Energy's outage map. But most of the affected customers got their power back in less than an hour, with all but 100 East Austin homes back to business as usual by 4:30pm.

An ERCOT press release Monday seemed intended to calm Texans' nerves – frayed by the colossal power grid failure during February 2021's Winter Storm Uri – and explained that ERCOT had deployed a conservation call more than four dozen times since 2008 to successfully manage grid operations.

Two factors drove strain on the grid: extreme heat leading to record high electric demand, and extremely low wind generation – less than 10% of capacity. The city of Aus­tin issued an excessive heat warning lasting until July 12, then extended it until the 13th at 8pm, and endured a 109-degree high on the 11th. Total forecast demand at the tightest time Monday, between 2 and 3pm, was 79,671 megawatts, with 81% of solar, 85% of dispatchable (gas and coal plants), and only 8% of wind power's installed capacity projected to be available. On Wednesday it was 78,451 megawatts, with conservation requested from 2-9pm due to forced thermal outages, solar performing worse at 68% due to cloud cover, dispatchable at 84%, and wind at 12%. An ERCOT spokesperson said that between 1:56 and 2pm Monday, they saw customers take action – nearly 500 MW of load dropped off. Still, the 78,264 MW used set a new unofficial all-time peak demand record and a July peak record (surpassing the previous record set on July 8 with 78,204 MW).

Should demand reach levels that threaten to outpace supply again, ERCOT will again urge customers to set their thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, turn off and unplug nonessential lights and appliances, and consult the Public Utility Commission's website for more conservation tips. A list of city-operated cooling centers at public libraries, senior centers, and rec centers can be found at austintexas.gov/alerts, though most are only open during daylight hours. Should such risk present again, the city's overnight cooling shelters will open dependent upon widespread power outages and estimated time of power restoration. Cap Metro also offers free rides to cooling centers as long as an excessive heat warning is in effect.