Because of those outages, ERCOT issued a call for Texans to reduce electric use as much as possible from June 14-18.
“We will be conducting a thorough analysis with generation owners to determine why so many units are out of service,” said Woody Rickerson, ERCOT vice president of grid planning and operations, in a news release. “This is unusual for this early in the summer season.”
About 73% of the forced outage is thermal energy, according to the ERCOT release. Meanwhile, demand is high due to hot summer weather throughout the state. According to the release, energy demand may exceed 73,000 MW, which would set a new record for June. The previous high of 69,123 MW was set in June 2018. One MW typically powers about 200 homes on a summer day, according to ERCOT.
The grid operator is asking residents to take measures such as setting thermostats to 78 degrees or higher, turning off lights, avoiding the use of large appliances and unplugging unneeded devices.
ERCOT issued a similar conservation appeal April 13 due to high generation outages, which representatives said were typical for the season, combined with higher-than-forecasted demand. That appeal ended in a matter of hours “without the need for an energy emergency,” ERCOT said at the time.
