Rising temperatures this weekend could put strain on Texas power grid

Energy are warning of a strain on the power grid this weekend weekend across the state of Texas. There are concerns of near all-time high demand for the month of May. Experts are worried some of the state's thermal plants may be offline due to maintenance. But ERCOT says they're asking plants to postpone scheduled maintenance so that they'll be ready for the demand. KHOU 11 reached out to ERCOT about their readiness and they sent us the following statement. “The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is anticipating extreme hot weather in the region Friday, May 6 through Monday, May 9 and may experience larger than normal demand for power.

ERCOT will deploy all the tools available to us to manage the grid reliably. ERCOT is coordinating closely with the Public Utility Commission, generation resource owners and transmission utilities to ensure they are prepared for the extreme heat. ERCOT has asked power plants across the region to postpone planned outages and to return from outages already in progress in order to serve Texans this weekend. At this time, ERCOT projects there will be sufficient generation to meet this high demand for electricity.” The memory of last February is still fresh in Texans' minds, as millions of people in the state were without power for days while temperatures remained below freezing.