Texas Heat Wave: More Demand Response Needed

Perspectives | Demand Response

Katherine Tweed :August 9, 2011

Texas can do better than barely averting rolling blackouts.

Hot summers are certainly not novel in Texas, but for the electric grid, the triple digits recently pushed capacity to new levels.

Texas’ power grid set record level power use for three consecutive days last week. The high demand topped off at 68,294 megawatts on Wednesday. The near-peak electricity use continued through the end of the week, with the grid operator ERCOT calling on demand response on Thursday despite slightly lower consumption. Wind contributed about 2,000 megawatts during some of the most crucial hours on Wednesday. ERCOT issued a level 2 alert for rolling blackouts, although they were ultimately avoided. The grid survived, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.

For more:

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/texas-heat-wave-more-demand-response-needed/