For the third consecutive day, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas set a new electricity demand record – 68,294 megawatts – yesterday afternoon.
The peak was recorded between 4 – 5 p.m.
Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations for ERCOT, said power managers are expecting yet another spike in usage today as most of Texas remains under the grip of a blistering heat wave.
“We are expecting another record-high electricity demand (Thursday), so we are continuing our call for conservation between 3-7 p.m.,” Saathoff said. “We do want to thank consumers and businesses who reduced their electricity consumption today following initiation of a level 1 emergency alert.”
Yesterday’s level 1 emergency – the second in as many days – was declared at 2:50 p.m. Operators cancelled the emergency procedures at 6:10 p.m.
Yesterday’s new peak demand exceeded Tuesday’s record demand by 365 MW and last year’s record of 65,776 MW by 2,518 MW. One megawatt of power is enough electricity to power about 200 homes in Texas during hot weather when air conditioners are running for long periods of time.
Wind generation contributed approximately 2,000 MW during the peak hour.
The peak demand for today is expected to be more than 68,200 MW.
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