The Texas Grid passed the first of many tests to meet continued heat wave demand Reuters

Scott Di Savino

(Reuters)-The Texas Power Grid passed next week and may be the first of many tests. It met this year’s highest demand on Monday without problems, because homes and businesses turned on air conditioners to escape the latest heat wave.

The United States has been plagued by extreme weather events this year, including the freezing of Texas in February that caused millions of people to lose power, and the high temperatures in the Pacific Northwest earlier this summer.

According to AccuWeather data, the high temperature in Houston is expected to reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) next week, and the high temperature in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio will reach 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Texas Electric Reliability Commission (ERCOT), which operates the power grid in most of the state, stated that power usage reached an initial peak of 72,856 megawatts (MW) on Monday and will reach 72,925 megawatts on July 30. That is 73,275 MW on August 1st and 74,160 MW on August 2nd.

ERCOT stated that these peaks are lower than Monday’s forecast because the forecast is slightly lower, which will keep demand below the July record of 74,244 MW and the historic high of 74,820 MW in August 2019. One megawatt can power about 200 homes in summer.

ERCOT has broken monthly records, including 70,219 MW in June and 69,692 MW in February, when millions of Texans lost electricity, water and heat for several days in a fatal storm because of ERCOT Scrambling to prevent the power grid from getting out of control and shutting down under abnormally large conditions.

The real-time price on Monday remained below $100 per megawatt hour (MWh) throughout the day.

In contrast, so far in 2021, the average price of ERCOT North is US$208/MWh, which is mainly due to the price surge of more than US$8,000 during the February freeze. The average price in 2020 is only $26.