The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees 90 percent of Texas’ power grid, expects to have more than enough power to get Texans through the spring and summer, despite a trend in warmer-than-average temperatures.
Spring power demand is expected to be 58,000 megawatts, which ERCOT expects to feed with more than 82,000 megawatts of wind, solar, coal and natural-gas fired power , according to ERCOT’s spring outlook released on Wednesday. One megawatt is enough to power 200 homes in hot Texas weather, and around 500 homes during a mild spring day.
To start the spring off, ERCOT announced that 1,500 megawatts of natural gas, wind and solar power have been added to its grid. ERCOT expects an additional 4,000 megawatts of gas, solar and wind to be added to the grid by the start of the summer season, at the end of May.
ERCOT’s weather forecasts show that Texans should expect a warm spring, particularly in the southern and western areas of the state. Typically, warmer temperatures in spring and summer help fuel demand for power, which peaks in the summer months as millions of Texas turn on air conditioning.
For Texans, there was very little respite from heat this year, as the winter of 2016-2017 has been one of the warmest on record in Texas, according to ERCOT’s weather summary.