By Tom Kleckner
Hell may be hotter, but it has nothing on Texas these days.
A high-pressure system that has swamped much of the state with triple-digit temperatures has triggered numerous heat advisories and led to all-time systemwide peak records in ERCOT.
The grid operator broke its previous high for system demand on Thursday, when load topped out at 73.3 GW between 4 and 5 p.m. That was more than 2 GW over the previous record of 71.1 GW, set in August 2016.
All told, demand surpassed the old record nine times last week as temperatures reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit and heat indexes were as high as 115. On Sunday, ERCOT set a new weekend demand record of 71.4 GW between 5 and 6 p.m., breaking the old mark set last July by almost 3 GW after surpassing it three times on Saturday.
The ISO came up short of another record Monday, but cracked 73 GW for the second and third times during the intervals ending at 4 and 5 p.m. System load also exceeded the 2016 record during the intervals ending at 3 and 6 p.m.
Demand has exceeded 70 GW every day since July 16. The grid operator in spring projected a peak demand of 72.97 GW in August, assuming normal weather conditions.
Through it all, ERCOT has met demand without issuing conservation appeals. Staff in spring said it would have as much as 78.2 GW of capacity available, with a planning reserve margin of 11%. (See ERCOT Gains Additional Capacity to Meet Summer Demand.)
“Everyone in the ERCOT market — from our operators to generators to transmission providers to retailers — is doing what they can to keep the power on for consumers,” said ERCOT spokesperson Theresa Gage.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport set a daily record for the third day in a row Saturday at 109, while Waco has broken its daily record five consecutive days, topping out at 109. Lubbock in West Texas saw a daily low of 81 on Thursday, the first daily low in the 80s in more than 100 years of record-keeping, according to The Weather Channel.
Houston and Dallas both opened cooling centers over the weekend for residents without access to air conditioning.
A jet stream is expected to shift the high-pressure dome to the West this week, cooling Texas temperatures down into the 90s.
“We fully expect to keep hitting new demand records as summer 2018 continues,” ERCOT said in a written statement.
Real-time hub average prices peaked at $1,922.20/MWh on Thursday in the 15-minute interval ending at 4 p.m. Wednesday’s high price of $2,281.95/MWh in the West zone was the highest seen since August 2015, when they hit $2,233/MWh, according to Bloomberg data.
Several retail providers have asked their customers to reduce their usage between 2 and 6 p.m. Cirro Energy, Reliant Energy and Xcel Energy have all offered conservations tips to their customers.
