The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has announced that it is anticipating record breaking electric demand this summer due to expected hot and dry conditions and continued economic and population growth throughout the region.
In a statement posted on its website, ERCOT said it is identifying low probability, high impact situations, similar to the February winter event, in its seasonal assessments to ensure all market participants and government officials have a comprehensive view into market conditions. The company noted that this will allow the market to more fully plan and prepare for even the most remote possibility.
Additionally, ERCOT announced plans to visit selected power plants across the state to review summer weatherization plans. This is the first time officials will visit plants for summer, ERCOT highlighted.
“The new scenarios reflect ERCOT’s commitment to improve transparency and visibility into the market and the factors that affect reliability, even when there is a very remote possibility of these events happening,” ERCOT’s vice president of grid planning and operations, Woody Rickerson, said in a company statement.
“While the risk for emergency conditions remains low this summer based on many of the scenarios studied, a combination of factors in real time, including record demand, high thermal generation outages and low wind/solar output could result in tight grid conditions,” he added.
“We cannot control the weather or forced generation outages, but we are prepared to deploy the tools that are available to us to maintain a reliable electric system. We hope this report helps market participants prepare to assist the grid if needed,” Rickerson went on to state.
ERCOT anticipates that there will be enough generation to meet the summer 2021 peak demand of 77,144 megawatts (MW). Based on this forecast, the ERCOT region will have a 15.7 percent reserve margin this summer season, according to the company.
Several top brass members of ERCOT left the business following the Texas freeze back in February, which saw more than four million homes and businesses go without power, Bloomberg highlighted. On February 16, Texas Governor Greg Abbott called on the legislature to investigate ERCOT.
ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers, representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load.
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