The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) has come out with the Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS) to serve as a communication platform informing citizens when peak demand for power will occur. The notification will include ERCOT’s Weather Watch, provide updates on grid conditions, and more. “ERCOT is launching the Texas Advisory and Notification System (TXANS) to provide greater transparency on grid conditions,” said ERCOT in a tweet. “This new tool includes the ERCOT Weather Watch—an earlier notification of forecasted significant weather & high energy demand.”

The heat is ramping up in triple digits already in the first month of summer. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has already asked Texans to conserve energy in the late afternoon hours and possibly add a degree or higher to the thermostat, in an effort to save energy. ERCOT says, however, it’s not experiencing emergency conditions yet.

ERCOT, which operates 90% of the Texas power grid, was in a similar position last summer when it could not shut down power plants for maintenance in May due to high temperatures. Texans were anxious last summer to see if the Texas power grid would hold up. While the Public Utility Commission of Texas and ERCOT made reforms to the power grid, such as insulation for times of extreme cold, the extreme heat seasons worried Texans. Luckily, the Texas power grid passed the ordeal last summer.

Already ERCOT has broken the June peak record demand using close to 80,000 MW of power. Next week the Texas power grid is expected to go over 81–83,000 MW. Prices for this month are expected to be high due to how much demand people are needing to cool their homes, especially when they come home from work. 

For this season, ERCOT is expected to save 89,000 MW of power. As we are already in June being asked to conserve energy, is the Texas power grid going to pass the test that will be on it this summer? ERCOT right now shows a gap between usage and capacity. In the meantime, it’s recommended to conserve energy, raise home temperatures a little bit, and turn off unneeded lights and electricity.

For the past two years, Texans have been skeptical of the power grid to meet the energy demands of Texans both in extreme heat and extreme cold. During the Texas Legislative session, lawmakers focused on creating “a low-interest loan program for companies that build new natural gas-fueled power plants, which still needs to be approved by voters in November,” wrote the Texas Tribune. This excludes solar and wind energy, however. The Senate wanted to encourage more natural gas power plants to provide dispatchable energy.