Editor's Note: The video above provides tips on what to do if you develop a heat-related illness.
AUSTIN (KXAN) – The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has issued a weather warning from Wednesday, August 23 to Sunday, August 27 “due to projected high temperatures, higher power demand and the potential for lower reserves.” , according to a press release.
ERCOT said in the notice that there is currently enough capacity to meet the projected demand and that no action is required at this time.
On Sunday, ERCOT set a new weekend peak demand record of 85,116 MW. The current all-time peak demand record was set on Aug. 10 at 85,435 MW, the press release said.
In 2022, peak demand in August was 78,465 MW, ERCOT said.
The 6-day supply and demand dashboardwhich is updated in real-time shows there is an opportunity for new all-time peak demand records this week, the press release said.
The new notification system from ERCOT
For anyone who wants to subscribe to network health notifications via the Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS). Visit the ERCOT website.
ERCOT hopes the TXANS system will help increase transparency and trust, ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas previously said.
Understand the alert levels of ERCOT
ERCOT has several different ones Alert levels for energy emergenciesor EEAs. Under normal grid conditions, the stages are “Faltage Alarm” and then “EEA 1”, “2” and “3”.
Here's what the alert levels mean:
- Conservation Warning: This is a voluntary request to reduce power consumption, ERCOT said. Although ERCOT stated that it is not in emergency mode, it is asking the public and “all government agencies to implement all programs to reduce energy consumption in their facilities”.
- Energy emergency level 1: Conservation is considered critical. We reach this stage when the operating reserves fall below 2,300 MW and a recovery is not expected within 30 minutes.
- Emergency level 2: Triggered when reserves are less than 1,750 MW and are not expected to recover within 30 minutes. At this point, ERCOT can reduce the load on the system by cutting off power to large industrial customers who have contractually agreed to have their power shut off in the event of an emergency.
- Emergency level 3: The final level will be reached when reserves fall below 1,430 MW. If the operating reserves then fall below 1,000 MW and a restoration cannot be expected within 30 minutes and/or the frequency level of the grid cannot be kept at 60 Hz, ERCOT introduces “controlled failures”, also known as rolling blackouts.
