According to ERCOT, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the “immediate concern” for the possibility of rolling blackouts today has been reduced, but Harris County residents are still urged to conserve electricity.
Morning peak demand is projected to be more than 56,800 MW, record setting power usage for the state of Texas. ERCOT will be monitoring the grid closely because additional unexpected major losses of generation could force operators to begin emergency procedures to avoid an uncontrolled statewide blackout.
The grid continues to have about 3,000 MW of generation out of service due to the effects of the extreme cold.
Rotating outages are controlled, temporary interruptions of electrical service initiated by each utility when ERCOT’s reserve power supplies are exhausted. Utilities/ transmission providers determine the location/scheduling of the rotating outages.
Rotating outages are the last step in a progressive series of emergency procedures that ERCOT follows according to market rules.
“We only call for controlled rotating outages as a final fail-safe measure to avoid an uncontrolled blackout across the state,” said ERCOT representatives.
ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to approximately 22 million Texas customers - representing 85 percent of the state’s electric load and 75 percent of the Texas land area. As the Independent System Operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects 40,000 miles of transmission lines and more than 550 generation units.
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