AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- With much of the state baking in heat warnings and triple-digit temperatures, the state's electric grid operator says the rest of summer may not as bad as last year.
ERCOT officials say they expect summer 2023 overall to be cooler than last year, lowering the need for electricity.
"Last spring was a very unusual spring in that it was dry and hot early on in the summer. We've had a good, wet spring this year, so that has damped down one of the temperature problems that we may have," said Woody Rickerson, ERCOT's vice president of system planning and weatherization. "And even though we are going to go through some period of pretty hot weather here, including today and the next few days, the overall look this summer is still expected to be more like a normal summer."
Rickerson said ERCOT's worry is shifting later in the evening, towards the 9 p.m. hour, as solar generation drops off with the sun going down.
"The load [demand] will drop from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., but the solar is dropping more than the load drops,” said Rickerson. “And so, that makes your tightest hour be later in the day. So the key takeaway here, like I said, is that wind production continues to be a very, very important factor every day this summer.”
ERCOT issued its first voluntary conversation request of the season Tuesday afternoon, with much of the state baking in triple-digit heat.
"Resource adequacy for high demand days is going to be very dependent on wind," said Rickerson. "That's just the reality of where we are. Every day we'll have to look at what the wind is doing."
