Hot weather, low wind, outages will set new power record in Texas - Houston Chronicle

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Texas will likely use a record-breaking amount of electricity this summer, reflecting hotter than usual weather that will more than compensate for slower economic growth.

The state's grid manager the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said it may need to issue emergency energy conservation alerts this summer because of expected extreme weather, low wind output and higher-than-normal generation outages.   The grid manager issued two emergency calls for voluntary conservation last summer when temperatures climbed to the triple digits and power supplies were dangerously low.

ERCOT announced Wednesday that it lowered its peak load forecast by 1,496 megawatts to 75,200 megawatts to account for the economic impact related to the spread of coronavirus. But the new forecast is still higher than the all-time peak demand record of 74,820 megawatts set during last summer's heat wave on Aug. 12. One megawatt is enough to power about 200 homes during a hot summer day in Texas.

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The new forecast increases the summer reserve margin to 12.6 percent, up from 10.6 percent, which gives Texas a more comfortable cushion of power supplies heading into the hottest months of the year. The reserve margin got a boost over the past year as more new renewable and gas-fired power projects came on-line.

A year ago the reserve margin was just 8.6 percent which created a tight supply of electricity and drove prices repeatedly to $9,000 a megawatt hour, the state's maximum.

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Hot weather, low wind, outages will set new power record in Texas - Houston Chronicle
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