TEXAS, USA — Temperatures are expected to stay well above average through much of this week across the State of Texas. This has ERCOT on high alert as the hot temperatures will increase power demand for cooling.
The time of highest concern is Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon.
Power companies typically schedule their power plants for maintenance during the fall and spring when temperatures are mild and electricity supply is low. The unusually hot temperatures during the week of April 15 come when several power generators are scheduled to be offline for maintenance purposes.
ERCOT has recognized this potential power emergency and has issued an Outage Schedule Adjustment. This allows ERCOT to reschedule or cancel planned maintenance outages in order to keep available supply above expected demand.
As of Monday, ERCOT is expecting grid conditions to stay normal through this week and residents are not being asked to conserve electricity.
If supply and demand margins become too thin, ERCOT may force scheduled power plants to stay open to meet consumption.