ERCOT asks Texans to conserve electricity Wednesday to help manage Texas power grid
ERCOT is asking Texas businesses and residents to “voluntarily conserve electricity” Wednesday afternoon and evening from 2 to 9 p.m. as the state continues to see heat over 100 degrees.
“Today’s conditions are expected to be similar to those experienced on Monday, July 11, 2022,” ERCOT said in a conservation appeal. “On that day, Texans and businesses responded by voluntarily conserving electricity and helping ERCOT successfully meet record power demand by reducing their energy use by 500 MWs.”
ERCOT initially asked residents to conserve energy until 8 p.m., but minutes later issued a correction, extending the appeal for an extra hour. Systemwide outages are not expected, but rolling blackouts could be possible.
The reliability council said that it’s deployed the appeal over 50 times since 2008 to help manage the state’s power grid. The appeal is issued when reserves fall below 2300 MW for over 30 minutes.
As of about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, the operating reserves stood at about 2,700 MW, a level at which customers are asked to reduce power use.
ERCOT said Texans can help by turning their thermostats up a “degree or two if comfortable, and postponing running major appliances or pool pumps during the requested time frame.”
The reliability council said it plans to reserve power and call upon “large electric customers who have volunteered to lower their energy use.”
Forecast for the rest of the week
Throughout the rest of this week, Texans can expect to see highs hanging between 99 to 108 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
A heat advisory is in effect for the Fort Worth area until 9 p.m. Thursday, after temperatures topped over 105 degrees Wednesday with heat index values up to 110.
There’s a small chance for storms Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, “mainly along and south of I-20,” the weather service said, adding that most areas will remain hot and rain-free.
“Low temperatures will be mainly in the mid and upper 70s, with low 80s in the more urban areas,” the weather service said. “Severe weather probabilities are low, but a few storms will produce strong wind gusts and frequent lightning.”
Looking at record temperatures
In 2022 so far, Dallas-Fort Worth has only seen two days over 105 degrees, and Wednesday may be the third as we enter into the afternoon.
In July 1980, there were 19 days in the Metroplex over 105 degrees, which holds the record for not only the most days over 105 in the region, but also the most in one month.
From July 8 through July 18, 1980, 11 days were consecutively 105 degrees or above.
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service don’t anticipate that 2022 will come close to the record.
Likewise, David Bonnette, a meteorologist with the weather service, said that 2011 holds the record for the most days in DFW over 100 degrees with 71.
In 2022 so far, there have been 20 days over 100 degrees, and similar to the record above 105 degrees, Bonnette said he believes it’ll be hard for 2022’s heat in Dallas-Fort Worth to break the existing record, but possible.
So far, there have been 11 consecutive days over 100 degrees, the most since 2016.
Current Temperatures
Current temperatures and weather data from NOAA weather stations updated hourly. Tap on the map for current weather conditions, including humidity, wind speed. and direction. Data provided by NOAA and Esri.
