ERCOT of Texas, the agency that manages the power grid, said demand for electricity briefly topped 80,000 megawatts for the first time ever, exceeding even the worst-case scenario ERCOT envisioned in its most extreme forecasts prior to the start of the summer.
ERCOT said usage did not remain above 80,000 megawatts long enough to consider it to be an “official record”, but ERCOT’s on-line grid tracker showed demand during the peak hours of the afternoon remained above 79,900 MW for some time.
To put the 80,000-megawatt number into perspective, that’s more power than California and New York state are expected to consume Wednesday afternoon – combined.
California’s peak demand was about 40,000 megawatts Wednesday afternoon and New York state was about 30,000, according to each state’s real-time grid tracking information posted online.
On Wednesday the grid held strong with coal, gas, and nuclear plants turning out massive amounts of power while the state was also getting help from almost 20,000 megawatts of renewable energy, with ample supplies of wind and sun.
https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/texas-power-grid-on-th…
Texas is full of hot air.
Jaak