ERCOT calls for rotating outages
Extreme winter weather causing need for reduction
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) entered emergency conditions and initiated rotating outages at 1:25 a.m. today, February 15, 2021. They released this statement early this morning.
ERCOT calls for rotating outages as extreme winter weather forces generating units offline
Almost 10,000 MW of generation lost due to sub-freezing conditions
AUSTIN, TX, Feb. 15, 2021 – The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) entered emergency conditions and initiated rotating outages at 1:25 a.m. today.
About 10,500 MW of customer load was shed at the highest point. This is enough power to serve approximately two million homes.
Extreme weather conditions caused many generating units – across fuel types – to trip offline and become unavailable.
There is now over 30,000 MW of generation forced off the system.
“Every grid operator and every electric company is fighting to restore power right now,” said ERCOT President and CEO Bill Magness.
Rotating outages will likely last throughout the morning and could be initiated until this weather emergency ends.
PEC asks its members to please continuing reducing energy use over the next few days and be patient while the state continues to work to restore power. To learn how you can reduce energy use, review this collection of energy saving stories, and access frequently asked questions regarding the current service interruptions.