Six of Texas’s cities made up the top 10 hottest cities on Thursday, and it’s expected to stay that way heading into Friday — igniting fears that severe temperatures could put further stress on the state’s energy grid, a day after Texas’s grid operator issued an energy emergency for the first time this summer.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid operator, issued a conservation notice on Thursday, asking consumers to conserve electricity use between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time. ERCOT cited “high temperatures, high demand, low wind, and declining low solar power generation” as the reason for the conservation appeal. But it’s only expected to get hotter, with some cities reaching highs of 109 degrees Fahrenheit.
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On Wednesday, the operator issued an energy emergency that lasted approximately 76 minutes, announcing that it would be going into its second level of energy emergency operations. This is when operating reserves drop below 1,750 megawatts, and ERCOT uses power from large industrial customers — who are contractually obligated to have their electricity turned off during an emergency — along with tapping into other resources. ERCOT moved from its emergency level 2 operations to level 1 later in the evening, avoiding the implementation of rotating power outages.
However, scorching temperatures heading into the weekend increase the possibility of the state issuing another emergency alert. Out of the 10 cities that have the hottest temperatures on Thursday, six of them are in Texas — including Corpus Christi, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Arlington, according to an analysis by the Washington Post.
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The latest conservation notice by ERCOT on Thursday is the 11th this year, with record-breaking temperatures contributing to the tightening of grid supply. The state is still navigating a triple-digit heat wave that has made headlines throughout the summer months — and temperatures are only expected to get mildly better through the weekend.