Six power generation facilities in Texas tripped offline last Friday, resulting in the loss of approximately 2,900 megawatts of electricity, Brad Jones, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Interim CEO, revealed in a recent company statement.
“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 the ERCOT announcement, which was published last Friday.
In the statement, Jones highlighted that all generation resources available were operating again. He also revealed that ERCOT was asking Texans to conserve power when they could by setting their thermostats to 78-degrees or above and avoiding the usage of large appliances during peak hours through the May 14-15 weekend.
In a market note sent to Rigzone this week, Rystad Energy analyst Fabian Rønningen highlighted the Texas power trip, noting that power prices spiked as a result, “reaching as high as $4000 per MWh in Houston”.
“Ultimately, lights stayed on as large-scale outages were avoided, but grid reliability issues this early in the season does not bode well for the coming summer season when peak demand is expected to hit,” Rønningen stated in the market note.
Texas grid conditions are normal at the time of writing, according to ERCOT’s website, which notes that there is enough power for current demand. Grid condition figures are constantly updated on the ERCOT site.
ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers, representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load, according to its website. ERCOT is a membership-based nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature, its site highlights.
In February 2021, ERCOT entered emergency conditions and initiated rotating outages across Texas in the face of “extreme winter weather”. In July 2021, the company revealed that it had delivered a roadmap to improving grid reliability to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, members of the Texas Legislature and the Public Utility Commission. In an organization statement at the time, ERCOT noted that the roadmap was a comprehensive plan that addresses operational improvements to the Texas power grid.
Source: Rig Zone
