AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued a Voluntary Conservation Notice from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday due to extreme heat and forecasted record demand.
This is a voluntary request to reduce electrical use, ERCOT said. While ERCOT said it is not in emergency operations, it is asking the public and “all government agencies to implement all programs to reduce energy use at their facilities.”
According to the KXAN First Warning Weather forecast, Austin may reach daily record-tying high temperatures of 106° Tuesday with some of the hottest “feels like” temperatures on record.
On Monday, ERCOT broke the June peak demand record, unofficially, with 79,304 MW, passing last June’s record of 76,718 MW. ERCOT said Texas set 11 new peak demand records last summer. The current all-time record of 80,148 MW was set last year on July 20, 2022.
Last week, ERCOT issued a weather watch for June 15-21. A weather watch notification is distributed three to five days out of forecasted weather that could impact the grid and create high demand.
ERCOT’s notification system
Anyone who wants to sign up for grid condition notifications via the Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS) can visit the ERCOT website.
ERCOT hopes the TXANS system will help increase transparency and trust, ERCOT President and CEO Pablo Vegas previously said.