ERCOT issues 2nd conservation appeal this week; Texans asked to reduce electricity use from 2-9 p.m. Wednesday

AUSTIN, Texas (KWTX) - “Extreme hot weather” continues to drive a record demand for electricity across Texas, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is issuing its second conservation appeal this week.

Texans and businesses are being asked to reduce electricity use on Wednesday, July 13 between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.

ERCOT said Texans are being asked to voluntarily conserve electricity during this time and there are currently no system-wide outages expected.

“Today’s conditions are expected to be similar to those experienced on Monday, July 11, 2022. On that day, Texans and businesses responded by voluntarily conserving electricity and helping ERCOT successfully meet record power demand by reducing their energy use by 500 MWs,” ERCOT said.

ERCOT said there are several factors behind its decision to ask consumers for help conserving electricity:

Record high electric demand. The heat wave that has settled on Texas and much of the central United States is driving increased electric use. Other grid operators are operating under similar conservative operations programs as ERCOT due to the heatwave.
Low wind. Wind generation is currently generating less than what is historically generated in this time period.
Forced thermal outages. The number of forced outages in thermal generation exceeds ERCOT forecasts.
Solar. Developing cloud cover in West Texas has reduced the amount of solar generation.