A confluence of factors resulted in the Texas energy grid entering emergency operations earlier this week, raising further concerns about the stability of the state’s energy infrastructure.
The Energy Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the organization that oversees the operation of the energy grid, asked government, residential, and commercial power users to voluntarily conserve energy during the critical hours of 6-9 p.m. on Wednesday.
Increased electricity demand, triple-digit temperatures, and low solar and wind power generation all contributed to the strain on the electricity grid as reserve levels plummeted.
ERCOT then announced that it had transitioned to emergency operations, issuing an Energy Emergency Alert Level 2 to try to maintain the grid’s reliability. It was the first time ERCOT has had to resort to emergency operations since the blackout in parts of the state in February 2021 during Winter Storm Uri.
The organization clarified that the emergency situation did not mean outages would occur but rather that additional reserves would have to be accessed to prevent outages.
“At this time, ERCOT is bringing all available generation online, releasing any remaining reserves, using demand response to lower electric demand,” said the organization in a press release. “ERCOT is also working with out-of-state Independent System Operators … and Market Participants to obtain additional power generation capacity.”
ERCOT’s emergency alert system has three levels. A Level 2 alert is triggered when operating reserves fall below 1,750 MWs and are not expected to rise again within 30 minutes, according to the release.
A new September peak demand was recorded by the organization on Wednesday, clocking 82,705 MW.
Thursday saw record-setting high temperatures and a similar high demand for electricity, prompting ERCOT to issue another conservation appeal that was in effect 5-9 p.m.
“Thank you to Texas residents and businesses for your conservation efforts, which, along with improved wind conditions and additional reliability tools, helped us get through another tight peak time,” ERCOT tweeted at 9:03 p.m.
So far this year, ERCOT has logged 10 new all-time peak demand records.
As of Friday, the electrical grid was operating under normal conditions with sufficient power to meet demand.