Where Will You Be When the Lights Go Out? The Latest on TX’s Grid.
It might be a good time to stock up on batteries. The Texas power grid might not make it through the current heatwave. Over the weekend, ERCOT which stands for The Electric Reliability Council of Texas issued warnings that rolling blackout might be needed statewide on Monday, July 11th.
The Electric Reliability Council? Really? Maybe they should call it The Power Unreliability Council of Texas or PUCOT with the emphasis on PU.
In all fairness, what's happening here in Texas is unbelievable. Temperatures statewide are breaking records. The demand for electricity is exceeding the Texas supply. It looked like blackouts were about to roll through the state, then something amazing happened.
Between 156pm and 2pm Monday, as ERCOT's conversation alert went into affect, power demand suddenly went down by nearly 500 megawatts. That's the same amount of wattage needed to power about 10,000 homes. Texans heard the call and conserved that much power in four minutes to save the grid.
Now, that's teamwork.
So what can you do to help? Raise your thermostat to 78 degrees and keep large appliances off during peak afternoon hours. Save your dishwashers, washing machines and dryers for off peak overnight hours.
If we do this, then the latest ERCOT prediction that the grid would not need additional conversation notices this week, might hold true. I wouldn't take any chances, though. Make sure you have batteries and keep your mobile devices charged. That way, if a rolling blackout comes to your neighborhood, you will be able to call and text all your friends and tell them about it. Better yet, do a sad TikTok for your friends across the country to call attention to the not so "power"ful Lone Star State.
TIPS: Here's how you can prepare for power outages
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