ERCOT says Texas electric grid is ready for summer, despite recent generator failure

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said Tuesday the state’s power grid is prepared for a hot summer despite generator failures last week.

On Friday between 12:30 and 4 p.m., six power plants went offline, resulting in a loss of about 2,900 megawatts of electricity. Although ERCOT didn’t send out an emergency alert, it asked Texans to help conserve energy and to set thermostats to 78 degrees during peak hours.

The failing generators were a coincidence as a number of units were coming offline at the same time, interim ERCOT CEO Brad Jones told reporters Tuesday. It happened at or near the peak of the warm weather Friday and was compounded by low wind generation and record-breaking energy demand, he said.

“It was a combination of those six units, as well as a few smaller ones that we haven’t mentioned so far, coming off near the same time that put us in this posture of sending out this request (to conserve) to consumers,” Jones said.

The units coming offline did not trigger an alert status, Jones said. Jones described ERCOT’s request for consumers to conserve energy as a way to make sure it is doing everything possible to keep the grid reliable.

Jones conceded the messaging from ERCOT on Friday was similar to that of a conservation alert. He said the agency also should communicate at the end of such a situation to close the loop.

Even if it wasn’t a conservation alert, Texans listened over the weekend.

“We saw roughly 300 or 400 megawatts of response out of Texans, and that is a great number for us to see,” Jones noted.

Going into the summer, ERCOT is ready for what could be more record-setting heat, said Peter Lake, chairman of the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

ERCOT will continue to operate with an abundance of caution, Lake said, meaning that it will bring more generators online sooner rather than later. The margin reserve is also higher going into this summer than in years past, signaling that the lights will stay on, Lake said.

“This grid is more reliable than it has ever been before,” Lake added.

ERCOT’s energy reserves have gone up over the last few years from about 9% in 2019, to 12% in 2020, and about 16% last year. This summer, ERCOT has 23% reserves ready to go.

The additional reserves that ERCOT has procured, starting last June through May, totals to about $1 per Texas household per month, Lake said. For that additional $1 per month, Texans have a more reliable grid, Lake said.

ERCOT will continue to purchase extra reserves, but consumers should not expect the costs to increase for Texans beyond the $1 mark, Lake said. If anything, the price will likely be reduced below that dollar amount if gas prices decrease.

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