Dive Brief:

• Two unplanned outages on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9 caused the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) to issue calls for conservation last week. Rotating blackouts were initiated in the Lower Rio Grande Valley on Wednesday due to voltage concerns on the grid and ERCOT issued calls for conservation Thursday and Friday. 
• On the first day, ERCOT called for transmission and distribution companies to reduce system demand by 200 MW to address issues related to unplanned power plant outages totaling more than 1,000 MW.
• The following day an unrelated issue associated with an outage on a high-voltage transmission line serving the region led ERCOT to request conservation again to help prevent additional concerns.

Dive Insight:

Following two days of conservation calls, the Electric Reliability of Texas issued a statement saying it continues to work closely with transmission providers to address electric reliability concerns associated with growth in the Valley region. The operator noted two large transmission projects are scheduled for completion in 2016, but said more work will be needed to keep up with growing demand.

“We realize any power outage can be disruptive, especially when we are unable to notify affected residents before they occur,” said Ken McIntyre, ERCOT vice president for Grid Planning and Operations. 

ERCOT’s request for rotating outages on Oct. 8 began at 4:47 p.m. and ended at 6:29 p.m. During that time, the grid operator used all available generation in the region and imported about 145 MW of additional generation from the power grid in Mexico.

“The steps area residents take to reduce demand when we request conservation in these situations can help reduce the need for further actions to maintain grid operations,” McIntyre said. “ERCOT will analyze the event further and provide a full report to regulators, but we also want people in the area know that, given similar circumstances, these types of events can occur again in the coming years.”