Texas Heatwave Set to Challenge Power Grid Early Next Week – Reuters

The Texas power grid is set to face challenges next week as an early spring heatwave sweeps across the region this weekend, leading to increased demand for air conditioning in both homes and businesses.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), responsible for managing the grid for much of the state, has indicated that it anticipates sufficient electricity supply to meet the rising demand.

AccuWeather predicts that temperatures in Houston, Texas’s largest city, could soar to 98 degrees Fahrenheit (36.7 degrees Celsius) on Monday, with subsequent days seeing highs in the low to mid-90s Fahrenheit. This is notably higher than the typical high of 86 degrees Fahrenheit for this time of year.

Texans are reminded of the devastating freeze in February 2021, which left millions without power, water, and heating during a severe winter storm. During that time, ERCOT struggled to prevent a total grid failure as a significant portion of power generation was offline.

ERCOT anticipates that power demand will peak at 71,152 megawatts (MW) on Monday, which would surpass the current May record of 70,703 MW set just days earlier on May 9. However, this peak will still be significantly below the all-time high for the state of 74,820 MW recorded in August 2019.

For context, one megawatt typically powers about 1,000 homes under normal conditions, but this number drops to approximately 200 homes during a hot summer day in Texas.

In the ERCOT North hub, which includes Dallas, next-day prices soared to a six-month high of $195 per megawatt-hour (MWh) for Friday, with traders indicating that prices for Monday have been around $220 per MWh.