Expect Brown Outs

AUSTIN, Texas (KETK) — ERCOT said Monday it could no longer meet the demand for power in Texas as people turn up the heat to keep warm in record-breaking cold temperatures.

ERCOT is initiating rotating outages because the extreme winter is forcing generating units offline.

Rotating outages primarily affect residential neighborhoods and small businesses and are typically limited to 10 to 45 minutes before being rotated to another location, ERCOT said.

Rotating outages could continue for days.

Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers, issued a Level 3 warning “because electric demand is very high right now, and supplies can’t keep up.”

“Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness.
“Reserves have dropped below 1,000 MW, and ERCOT does not expect it to recover within 30 minutes; as a result, ERCOT has ordered transmission companies to reduce demand on the system,” said the company statement