Texans could experience calls to reduce electricity usage — or even power outages — this winter if the grid experiences very high demand for power, estimates from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas show.
Electrical workers repair a power line in Austin on Feb. 18, 2021, during the winter storm that nearly collapsed the state’s power grid. The state grid operator’s seasonal forecast says extreme weather this winter could lead to calls to reduce power use — or even rolling blackouts., our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.
“It is critically important to address the fact that … under the most extreme conditions, there could be not enough power,” said Pablo Vegas, president and CEO of ERCOT. “That’s not acceptable.”ERCOT and the Public Utility Commission, which regulates electricity infrastructure, are currently working to redesign Texas’ power market.
Each extreme scenario shows the grid operator would need to ask Texans to take emergency action to cut back on electricity usage. One scenario shows that if those conditions combine with enough gas- and coal-fired power plant outages and low wind power production, the grid could face rolling blackouts.
For this winter, ERCOT estimates a peak power demand of about 67,400 megawatts — much more than it estimated in last year’s winter forecast for 2021-22, which didn’t take the February 2021 power crisis into account.
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