San Antonio Report
Lindsey Carnett
The Electricity Reliability Council of Texas issued a voluntary conservation notice late Thursday morning asking Texas government agencies and residents statewide to reduce their electricity use from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The Texas electrical grid operator is projecting the state’s energy demand will come close to its available supply during that time interval, according to projected market conditions. The City of San Antonio and Bexar County officials said both entities are implementing conservation measures to reduce energy use within their facilities.
Weather forecasts called for a high temperature of 106 degrees in the San Antonio area Thursday.
A city spokeswoman said department directors were told they must set building temperature settings to 78 degrees or higher between 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. this week for their facilities. They also must shut down or reduce nonessential operational processes, the city said in an emailed statement.
Bexar County spokeswoman Monica Trevino-Ortega said the county also has implemented its demand response protocol, which includes switching off and unplugging devices not in use, turning off lights, utilizing the hibernate feature on laptops and turning thermostat settings higher.
As it has done 45 times during this scorching summer, CPS Energy has issued a conservation request to local residents and businesses, declaring Thursday a “Yellow Peak Energy Demand Day” in accordance with its recently created color-coded energy conservation levels system. On yellow days, the utility asks the community to conserve more during certain hours; green days mean the grid is not strained.
The voluntary conservation notice is part of ERCOT’s new Texas Advisory and Notification System, launched in May. The system alerts the public of grid conditions and issues weather watches as necessary to notify Texans when conditions may become strained. The new communication system was launched as a part of the grid operator’s improvements in response to February 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, which saw statewide rolling blackouts during days of sub-freezing temperatures.
ERCOT said early Thursday afternoon it was not experiencing emergency conditions currently. ERCOT is utilizing additional tools to manage the grid reliably, including using reserve power, calling upon reductions by large electric customers that have volunteered to lower their energy use, and bringing more generation online sooner, it added.
“If you are experiencing an outage, it is local in nature and not related to overall grid reliability,” ERCOT said.
The voluntary conservation request is due to extreme heat across the state, accompanied by record electricity demand as Texas continues to boom in growth. Renewables, especially solar, have helped the Texas grid stay afloat this summer by allowing the grid operator to meet increasing demand. However, solar power declines as the sun sets.
ERCOT also cited low wind power generation Thursday as an additional cause for concern.
ERCOT set yet another new unofficial peak demand record of 85,435 megawatts on Aug. 10 — the 10th record it’s set this summer. Last summer, ERCOT set 11 new peak demand records with a high of 80,148 megawatts. One megawatt is enough to power 200 Texas homes on a hot summer day.
Earlier this summer, ERCOT’s president and CEO Pablo Vegas told San Antonio reporters it’s “very possible” that Texas will continue to break energy demand records this summer, but said was not particularly concerned about being able to meet that demand. ERCOT has up to 97,000 megawatts of resource capacity available for peak summer load, according to its summer 2023 Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy.
San Antonio residents can see CPS Energy’s tips on how to conserve energy here.
CPS Energy is a financial supporter of the San Antonio Report. For a full list of business members, click here.