SerpApi.Org
AUSTIN - The operators of the Texas power grid are projecting record-breaking power demand this week as triple-digit temperatures settle in across much of the state.
ERCOT, the state's power grid operator, hasn't issued an emergency alert or request for Texans to conserve power.
Texans should not expect any power squeeze. The scorching temperatures come as the sun shines across Texas, allowing for the state's growing fleet of solar power arrays to produce electricity.
Solar provided between 35% and 45% of all electricity produced on the grid on Monday and Tuesday and was producing as much as or slightly more than natural gas-fueled power plants, which make up the largest segment of ERCOT's total power generation capacity.
"We've added a lot of solar capacity, and it's that same sun that heats up buildings and drives air conditioning that makes electricity in the solar panels," Joshua Rhodes, a power grid expert at the University of Texas at Austin, said.
Demand projections showed ample energy reserves to handle the unprecedented electricity demand on the state's power grid, even as its forecast indicated several days of record-breaking power usage this week.
"The grid is operating under normal conditions," ERCOT spokeswoman Trudi Webster said. "ERCOT will continue to keep Texans updated on grid conditions through our communication channels."
This week's projections showed power demand exceeding the Aug. 10, 2023, record of 85.5 gigawatts on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
ERCOT has consistently forecast summers in which power demand records would be broken in the wake of population growth and the proliferation of industrial-scale power users in recent years.
"At some point, it had to give," Rhodes said of the 2023 record.
Triple-digit temperatures and heat advisories appear to signal the beginning of the dog days of summer. A heat wave in the state's largest metro areas, including Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, are driving power demand.
Temperatures could reach 106 degrees in Dallas on Wednesday, said Sam Shamburger, a lead forecaster at the National Weather Service's Fort Worth office. That's no daily record - it hit 109 in Dallas on July 22, 2018 - but still an uncomfortably hot temperature even for a region that regularly sees blistering summers.
A high-pressure system that settled over North Texas on Monday is fueling the heat. It's repelling clouds and associated shade and rain, and preventing cooling winds. In their place is a stagnant and punishing weather system and a heat advisory across Dallas-Fort Worth, East Texas and the Gulf Coast.
"We're going to have this ridge of high pressure pretty much right over us or near us through the end of July, which is going to keep us hot and dry," Shamburger said.
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