Electric Reliability Council of Texas Interim CEO Brad Jones made a statement on Friday, May 13 regarding the poor grid conditions facing Texans and asked for curtailed usage to ensure reliability.
Among comments, Jones said all generation resources available are operating at this time, asking Texans to conserve power when they can by setting their thermostats to 78-degrees or above and avoiding the usage of large appliances—such as dishwashers, washers and dryers—during peak hours between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. through the weekend.
"With unseasonably hot weather driving record demand across Texas, ERCOT continues to work closely with the power industry to make sure Texans have the power they need,” Jones said in his statement. “This afternoon, six power generation facilities tripped offline resulting in the loss of approximately 2,900 MW of electricity.”
Lt. Governor Dan Patrick took the warning as an opportunity to champion the cause of increased reliability, describing the energy conservation warning as another sign that we need greater reliability.
“Since Winter Storm Uri crippled Texas, I have fought for more dispatchable gas-fired energy available on the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid,” Patrick said in a statement. “During the last legislative session, I championed the replacement of the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUC) and ERCOT boards. The new members are doing their work, but they must have more power to meet Texas’ needs.”
While Senate Bill 2 and Senate Bill 3 were “good first steps,” Patrick said more work still needs to be done, emphasizing his commitment to more reliable Texas power.
According to the ERCOT release, as of 4 p.m. Friday, May 13, performance based on the percentage of installed capacity was operating as follows: 66% of thermal power was producing, while 17% of wind and 73% of solar rounded out the renewable performance.
ERCOT issued a warning earlier this month, citing unseasonably hot weather and planned maintenance outages as the reason for potential grid issues.
According to the Houston Chronicle, the cost per megawatt-hour ran as high as $5,000 Friday afternoon, compared to the normal $30 average cost.
As of 10:10 a.m. on Monday, May 16, Texas had 49,810 outages reported across the state.