As a heat wave scorches the Southwest, bringing record-shattering temperatures, officials at the Texas power grid operator are warning residents to prepare for continued outages and to conserve energy.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said Monday in a news release that a “significant number of forced generation outages combined with potential record electric use” in June had resulted in “tight grid conditions.”
DOCTORS WARN OF BURN INJURIES AS RECORD TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO SCORCH WEST
In a statement released on Tuesday, the agency said Texas residents had been compliant with requests and “responded strongly by reducing electric demand during the late afternoon,” but the need for conservation during peak hours – between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. CT – would still extend through Friday.
ERCOT said that it had been “leveraging every resource at its disposal” and that the power grid was “operating exactly as it was designed and intended.”
“The issuance of conservation notices is a common practice and prevents ERCOT from entering emergency conditions. Conservation efforts combined with the changes in procedures and processes implemented by ERCOT and the PUC following the winter storm prevented the possibility of rotating outages yesterday and ensured that no Texans lost power,” it added.