Just as summer is about to begin and in the midst of a heat wave, the administrator of the electrical network of most of Texas issued its second savings alert from the deadly blackout in February, urging users to reduce energy consumption until Friday to prevent an emergency from occurring.
The Electrical Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) indicated that many forced cuts in generation and record demand in June are putting pressure on supply electric. He urged users to lower their thermostats to 78 degrees Fahrenheit (25 degrees Celsius) and avoid using large electrical appliances until demand slows overnight.
ERCOT predicted peak demand for its system of 73,000 megawatts, well above the June record of 69,123 megawatts set between 4 and 5 p.m. on June 27, 2018. However, as of 2:30 p.m. on Monday, 12,178 megawatts of the 86,862 megawatts of total grid generation capacity were not available, ERCOT said, leaving a reserve capacity margin of about 2,000 megawatts.
“We will carry out a comprehensive discussion with generator owners to determine why so many units are out of service, “Woody Rickerson, ERCOT vice president for network planning and operations, said in a statement.” This is unusual for such an early date in the summer season. “
Leslie Sopko, a spokesperson for ERCOT, said 9,066 megawatts of the capacity that is not available come from steam powered generating units that use gas, coal or nuclear fission.
“At the moment we are seeing three or four times the number of forced cuts of thermal generation (powered by steam) into our system that we would normally expect to see at this time of year, “Sopko said on an afternoon conference call.
“All these thermal units are not available due to mechanical failures or the need for repairs,” he said.
On the other hand, wind power generation was producing 3,500 to 6,000 megawatts between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Monday, about 1,500 megawatts less than what is usually available for consumption conditions. peak, according to a statement from ERCOT. Solar power was producing more than 5,000 megawatts, Sopko said.
The ERCOT network it is the only country in the country that is completely within the borders of a single state. This exempts it from federal regulation, but also isolates it from access to supplemental energy from the other electrical networks in the country.
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