AUSTIN, Texas — A summerlike heat wave in Texas has led to ERCOT issuing a weather watch for Wednesday.
According to ERCOT, the notice is due to unseasonably high temperatures and a high level of expected maintenance outages, which could lead to the potential for lower reserves.
While the notice sent out Tuesday could cause concern, ERCOT said grid conditions are expected to be normal and that no action would be needed from customers.
Last month, ERCOT warned Texans could be days away from energy conservation due to maintenance. ERCOT stated an increased power demand had the potential to lead to a power emergency.
In 2023, ERCOT set 10 new all-time peak demand records, with the highest in August at more than 85,000 megawatts.
ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas told KVUE's Jenni Lee that since then, the agency has focused on more time for maintenance outages, clear communications and an increase of supply resources that put the grid operator in a better position to handle increased demand.
As Texans live through hotter summers and colder winters, Vegas also said ERCOT is factoring for the extremes with advanced forecasting tools that include artificial intelligence (AI).
"AI is starting to present itself as an incredibly powerful tool that can do very advanced and complex calculations very quickly and can help support the human resources that are in the control room [with] making decisions based on what's happening in real-time,” Vegas said.