ERCOT issues Weather Watch ahead of MLK Day freezing temperatures

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the organization that operates the state's power grid, has issued a Weather Watch for early next week due to below-freezing temperatures and higher-than-usual demand.

What we know:

ERCOT's Weather Watch is in effect from January 20-23.

A large part of Texas is expected to see temperatures drop below freezing during that timeframe.

ERCOT said that grid conditions are expected to be normal at that time. It's not yet asking people to conserve, and there’s no talk of outages.

The ERCOT website shows the grid is expected to have plenty of capacity to handle the extra demand.

You can monitor ERCOT's conditions here.

What is a Weather Watch?

ERCOT issues a Weather Watch to give advance notice of any forecasted significant weather that will result in higher electrical demand and the potential for lower reserves. 

If conditions require it, a Weather Watch would be followed by a Voluntary Conservation Notice and Conservation Appeal.

If electricity supply is still needed, there are three levels of Energy Emergencies.

Controlled outages do not occur until Level 3.

ERCOT improvements since 2021 Winter Storm

No Texan who lived through the 2021 Winter Storm is likely to forget it any time soon.

In Feb. 2021, the grid failed leaving millions in the state without power for days. Federal energy regulators blamed the failure on frozen equipment at power plants and natural gas facilities.

Since then, ERCOT has implemented policies that it says are aimed at preventing similar failures.

Related

Texas Supreme Court rules ERCOT can't be sued over 2021 winter storm

The Texas Supreme Court ruled that ERCOT, the agency that manages the power grid, cannot be sued over the 2021 winter storm.

Some of those tools include the weatherization of power equipment, bringing more generation online earlier if needed and purchasing more reserve power, according to the agency’s statement.

EROCT CEO Pablo Vegas said the state has seen steady increase in demand during winter months over the past 10 years.

Vegas said more than 10,000 megawatts of production has been added to the power grid since January.

Overall, Vegas said the grid is better prepared to handle heavier winter energy demands.

The Source: Information in this article comes from ERCOT and the FOX 4 Weather team.

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