DEVELOPING: Texas Grid Operator Asks Residents to Conserve Energy, Unplug Appliances, Amid Bitter Cold Snap Due to Issues with Solar, Wind Generation

Texas grid operator ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas) on Monday asked residents to conserve electricity use as temperatures fall below zero with the wind chill in some parts of the state.

The conservation alert comes one day after ERCOT issued a warning to Texas residents as the state braces for freezing rain, snow and subzero temps.

ERCOT manages electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers and represents 90% of the state’s electric load, according to the company.

The Texas grid operator begged residents to avoid using large appliances, lower thermostats a degree or two, turn off and unplug non-essential lights, and set pool pumps to run early morning or overnight; shut off during peak hours due to issues with solar, wind generation.

“ERCOT has issued a Conservation Appeal for Tuesday, Jan. 16, from 6 – 9 a.m. CT. With the winter storm encompassing the entire state and temperatures forecasted to be colder this evening and into tomorrow morning, ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve electricity use, if safe to do so. At this time, if you are experiencing an outage, it is local in nature and not related to grid reliability.” the grid operator announced on Monday.

TXANS Update—Jan. 15, 2024: ERCOT has issued a Conservation Appeal for Tuesday, Jan. 16, from 6 – 9 a.m. CT. With the winter storm encompassing the entire state and temperatures forecasted to be colder this evening and into tomorrow morning, ERCOT is asking Texans to conserve… pic.twitter.com/2JBXFhnvkp

— ERCOT (@ERCOT_ISO) January 15, 2024

According to ERCOT, solar and wind generation this week are forecast “to be lower than seasonally expected” during peak hours:

Why the Request to Reduce Usage?  

• Weather. Most of Texas is seeing extremely cold temperatures for an extended period of time.
• Demand. Texas is experiencing record-breaking demand due to the cold weather.
• Solar. Solar generation isn’t available in the early morning hours, which is a peak demand time during winter, and slowly ramps up as the sun rises.
• Wind. Wind generation is forecasted to be lower than seasonally expected in the early morning hours.

Will this year’s bitter arctic blast in Texas be a repeat of February 2021?

Nearly 3 years ago Texas got hit with a rare cold snap that spanned to the southern part of the state and the power grids gave out.

Power outages were initiated by ERCOT in February 2021 after the wind turbines froze.

Millions of Texans went without electricity for days.

Temperatures fell into the teens near Dallas and 20s around Houston with wind chills near zero.

According to state authorities, nearly half of the wind turbines in Texas froze, hurting the power supplies.

Millions of Texans suffered blackouts partly due to the frozen wind turbines.

Nearly three years later and Texas still hasn’t moved away from ‘green’ energy sources to avoid a deadly blackout due to frozen wind turbines and lack of solar generation.