Electricity Simplified

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), grid operator for most of the state, is preparing for a hot summer as it continues to evaluate future resource adequacy.

ERCOT today released its final summer Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA), which anticipates tight conditions this summer, along with the semiannual update to its long-term Capacity, Demand and Reserves (CDR) report, which shows some improvement since the previous report was issued in December 2012.

With tight operating reserves expected this summer, especially during the late afternoon hours on the hottest days, it is likely that ERCOT will initiate conservation alerts or power watches on some days. These alerts ask the public to reduce electric use to help ERCOT maintain reliability of the grid.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) Board of Directors at its March meeting approved a pilot for the upcoming summer that will expand its options to reduce electric use during peak summer conditions when demand is high and power supplies are tight.

The Weather-Sensitive Emergency Response Service pilot is open to electric users — either as individual customers or as part of an aggregated group of consumers — who can reduce power use by at least 100 kilowatts (kW), about the amount 20 homes use during peak demand.