June 10, 2024      4:13 PM

Texas faces 12 percent chance of rotating outages in August on nights with low wind, ERCOT says

The Houston Chronicle reports:

Texas faces an estimated 12% chance of controlled outages in August on nights when wind power production is low, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which operates the power grid for most of the state.

From 8 to 9 p.m., when the grid is most stressed, the potential for a grid emergency is about 16% in August if wind production is low, according to an ERCOT report released Friday. Typically, two other factors also are present when there is substantial risk of a grid emergency or outages in the summer: extreme heat and a high level of fossil fuel power plants offline for maintenance.

The assessments come ahead of what is expected to be another blistering summer in Texas. Last summer, the second-hottest on record in Texas, ERCOT repeatedly asked Texans to conserve electricity usage as the state’s grid strained to keep up with record-shattering power demand.

Copyright June 10, 2024, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved