As parts of Texas continue seeing record heat with more in the forecast, folks are cranking up their air conditioning and setting up fans to seek relief. State workers are now reporting the power grid has reached record demand.
What's the status of the Texas power grid, and what is expected for the rest of August? Here's what to know.
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ERCOT reports record-high power demand, as predicted by June report
The demand on the Texas power grid reached a record high on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Electricity Reliability Council of Texas told the Dallas Morning News . With a large portion of the state under an excessive heat warning, demand peaked at 85,559 megawatts late in the afternoon — breaking the record of 85,508 megawatts set last August.
While outside temperatures directly influence demand, other factors include the Lone Star State's growing population and expansion of users on the industrial scale, such as data centers and cryptocurrency mining. Texas is also the only state in the contiguous U.S. to operate its own power grid to avoid federal regulation.
Though power throughout the state remained largely unaffected by the strain as of midday Wednesday, Harris County reported around 8,500 customers were experiencing outages.
In June, ERCOT predicted challenges for August , such as an increased likelihood of an emergency alert during certain parts of the day. While midnight through 4 p.m. shows a low probability of an emergency alert, chances rise between 4 and 7 p.m. before jumping over 16% at 8 p.m. and dropping to 5% for the next hour. Changes of ordering controlled outages also spike around 9 p.m.
"Reserve shortage risks are the highest during the evening hours...when daily loads are typically near their highest levels and solar production is ramping down," the report from June says.
Walt Baum, the CEO of the newly formed electric energy advocacy group Powering Texans , said the report reinforces the need for Texas to aggressively develop additional power generation capacity.
“It’s important to note that ERCOT’s recent monthly outlook for August is intended to help prepare for all possible scenarios, including a worst-case scenario that would see demand peak for a limited amount of time," said Baum, whose organization's member companies are seeking to add 5,000 megawatts to the Texas grid.
It turns out ERCOT's predictions for August were accurate. Tuesday's peak in demand, along with Harris County outages, comes amid news of Houston securing a new battery energy storage system.
Houston to get battery energy storage system
A handful of Harris County residents may be experiencing power outages now, but energy company Jupiter Power is looking to change that. The same day power demand peaked in Texas, Jupiter announced the completion of its 400 megawatt hours (MWh) dispatchable power facility.
The Callisto I battery energy storage system (BESS) aims to contribute to the city's supply of reliable zero-emissions power. The location, a former fossil fuel power plant, sits in central Houston near the Medical Center and the Houston ship channel. According to the announcement, the plant will be capable of supporting an additional 400MW/800MWh of battery storage generation.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas power grid status: ERCOT reports record-high power demand amid excessive heat
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