The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Texas’ power grid operator, is putting out a call for all Texans to conserve energy through 8 p.m. Friday and through the weekend after six facilities tripped offline.
In a statement, ERCOT said “unseasonably hot weather” was driving record demand across Texas” Friday afternoon.
According to ERCOT data, demand reached 65,412 MW shortly before 5 p.m. Friday. Since that time the demand has been dropping. At 5:30 p.m., ERCOT had operating reserves of roughly 3,400 MW.
EROCT said the call for conservation comes after six power plants unexpectedly tripped offline Friday resulting in a loss of about 2,900 MW of generation — enough to power roughly 580,000 homes.
ERCOT said all generation resources are operating Friday afternoon, however, they’re still asking all Texans to conserve power by setting their thermostats to 78 degrees or above and to avoid using large appliances like dishwashers and washers and dryers between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
NBC 5’s team of weather experts has warned that higher than normal temperatures could lead to several broken temperature records in the coming days.
