Bryan Texas Utilities ready for summer heat as ERCOT warns of “brownouts”

KBTX News 3 at Ten

KBTX
By Tyler Hoskins
Published: May. 5, 2023 at 8:23 PM CST

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - It won’t be long until it’s summer and EROCT has already issued a warning that some parts of Texas might struggle to maintain power. In Bryan, some companies have already begun their preparations as the temperatures begin to climb.

A new forecast by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) released Wednesday examined the power grid’s ability to perform over the next several months. The forecast is part of a report known as the Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy for the ERCOT Region (SARA).

The latest data in the report has raised concerns about whether or not the power grid can handle this year’s summer power consumption with another record demand being predicted.

“On the hottest days of summer, there is no longer enough on-demand dispatchable power generation to meet demand in the ERCOT system,” Peter Lake, Public Utility Commission of Texas said.

As the summer weather moves in, Bryan Texas Utilities has already begun its preparations.

“We’re hardening our systems so we have some distribution automation and some things that we can do in the field to make our lines and our grid a little bit more resilient against storms and energy emergency,” Meagan Brown, BTU public information officer said.

According to ERCOT, in extreme situations, some areas across the state like North Texas might experience “brownouts” which are partial outages. BTU said they’re not concerned about it being a problem for the local area.

“I think we made it through a pretty hot summer last year, pretty hot and dry and we’re hoping we don’t have a repeat of that, however, we are prepared in as months to supply power to everyone who needs it here in the Brazos Valley,” Brown said.

According to the SARA report the base summer peak load is expected to be 82,739 MW based on data from 2007-2021. The report also states over “97,000 MW of summer-rated resource capacity is expected to be available for the summer peak load.”

ERCOT CEO, Pablo Vegas, said they expect the grid to “be reliable,” but the state is relying more on renewable resources like wind and solar to provide power during peak conditions.

“We will continue to use every tool available to keep the lights on, and the ACs running this summer, but we do not have any control over wind or sun,” Lake said.

If ERCOT issues an emergency, Brown said BTU will communicate it to its customers.

“There are advisories and alerts sent out to have customers reduce their usage and there are several tools available that commercial customers can reduce their usage on a large scale,” Brown said. “But each little bit each person can do even residential customers can make a difference.”

Brown said there are a few ways to reduce power consumption during the summer months such as delaying chores that create heat and humidity until the cooler parts of the day.

“That way you’re not adding so much heat and humidity into your home for your air conditioner to have to battle,” Brown said. “Another thing is just to make sure you’re taking care of your air conditioner, make sure you get it serviced and inspected by a professional, make sure you’re changing the air filter on those as recommended by the manufacturer.”

For more information on energy efficiency, Brown said customers can visit BTU’s website and social media pages.

To view the ERCOT’s latest report click this link.