Ahead of the frigid weather, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Wednesday issued a weather watch for January 15-17.
DALLAS — Texas is getting its fill of winter weather to start 2024, beginning with snow and blizzard conditions in the Panhandle.
Up next? An arctic front that could drop some temperatures in the state into the single digits, beginning Sunday night into Monday.
Ahead of the frigid weather, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on Wednesday issued a weather watch for January 15-17.
ERCOT cited “forecasted extreme cold weather,” along with “higher electrical demand and the potential for lower reserves.”
ERCOT isn’t asking residents or businesses to take action, and the agency still expects the power grid conditions to remain normal during the cold weather, which is expected to dip into Texas on Sunday and cause widespread freezing temperatures early next week.
“ERCOT continues to monitor conditions closely and will deploy all available tools to manage the grid, continuing a reliability-first approach to operations,” ERCOT officials said in a statement.
ERCOT has several levels of watches and warnings during situations that might stress the grid. The weather watch is the lowest of those levels.
If the forecasted energy demand is coupled with a lower energy supply, ERCOT could issue a “voluntary conservation notice,” asking Texans to voluntarily conserve power and asking government agencies to reduce energy use.
The next two levels are a conservation appeal and then an “energy emergency alert.”
Last year’s January peak demand for energy usage was 65,632 megawatts, while the all-time demand record was 85,508 megawatts on Aug. 10, 2023, according to ERCOT.
Original News Source
Running For Office? Conservative Campaign Management – Election Day Strategies!