San Antonians warned to conserve energy during extreme heat event

According to the National Weather Service, the daytime high temperatures for the San Antonio area were expected to reach 103 degrees July 11 and are forecasted to hover around 104 degrees July 12, 13 and 14 before dropping to about 100 degrees July 15.

The National Weather Service Austin-San Antonio office issued an excessive heat warning in effect now until 7 p.m. July 12.

“We’re in the thick of seeing the hottest temperatures we’ve seen in San Antonio—ever,” Garza said.

Garza said CPS Energy has power to meet local energy demand for July 11 but still urged residents and businesses to do what they can to reduce energy consumption.

Households, for example, are asked to set their thermostats at 82 degrees and unplug some appliances, CPS Energy said.

Garza praised businesses, financial and educational institutions, and industrial partners for taking steps to curtail their energy use.

San Antonio Water System President/CEO Robert Puente, for example, said SAWS is temporarily switching its office facilities to power generators and halting pumping recycled water into the San Antonio River.

SAWS will also temporarily deactivate its H2Oaks water desalination, storage and recovery facility in Elmendorf, Texas, and supplement water produced there with Edwards Aquifer water, Puente said.

“At the request of CPS Energy, we are doing our part to help alleviate the energy demand to help our community. We are well prepared with diversified water resources and have well-established, reasonable watering rules in place that help us manage how much water we pump and from where," Puente said.

Overall voluntary energy conservation will help power providers to ensure they have enough supply to get community members through the extreme heat, Garza said, adding that ERCOT is not actively requesting rolling blackouts.

“It’s possible, but not likely, but if it does happen, we’ll do what we can to let people know,” Garza said in case rolling blackouts do occur.

In such an event, CPS Energy expects power to be out in a specific area for about 15 minutes, and such outages would be distributed more equitably across the San Antonio area, according to Garza.

Garza said Texas energy providers unfortunately cannot rely on wind-generated electricity during this extreme hot weather event because of currently low amounts of wind. ERCOT on July 10 projected wind generation coming in less than 10% of its capacity.

“On days like today, we’ve got to rely on traditional generation,” Garza said, referencing the lack of wind and wind-generated electricity.

Officials with VIA Metropolitan Transit said their fleet vehicles will continue to offer free transportation for residents and their pets seeking relief at a public cooling center.

The city of San Antonio has 55 cooling centers, including Cody Branch Library, 11441 Vance Jackson Road; Parman Branch Library at Stone Oak, 20735 Wilderness Oak; and Encino Branch Library, 2515 E. Evans Road.

Officials with VIA also said they are offering free water to riders at bus stops to help them stay hydrated.

Bexar County has opened public cooling centers at six Emergency Service District fire stations and the county fire marshal’s office at 9810 Southton Road. North Side ESD stations serving as county cooling stations include 23103 Bulverde Road and 20825 Babcock Road.

County cooling centers are open 1-10 p.m. County officials said Meals on Wheels will be checking in with residents in unincorporated Bexar County and suburban cities during this extreme heat event.