The Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ (ERCOT) Kent Saathoff says the peak demand forecast is slightly lower — typical for the end of the week. And wind power is helping.
“One of the things we’ve seen pretty consistently the last several days is an increase in wind generation from the coastal wind. The coastal wind generation follows our load pattern very well. It starts coming up about one o’clock and, you know, gradually increases, you know, into the evening.”
It’s been so hot — even in the evenings — that the lake water used to cool some generating plants is too warm.
“They can’t really efficiently condense the steam that’s used to make electricity, so that causes unit D-ratings that they can’t generate as much as they could if the lake were cooler.”
Some 1,500 mw of interruptible load service was dropped yesterday, averting the need to implement rotating outages. Wind turbines in the coastal area are helping fill the slack. Three new all-time peak demand records were set this week.