By Scott DiSavino
(Reuters) – Texas power prices hit a 30-month high for Friday as homes and businesses crank up their air conditioners during a record-breaking heat-wave.
The state grid that supplies power to 26 million customers was operating normally Friday morning, but supplies are expected to tighten when the sun goes down and solar power drops, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) grid operator’s website.
Next-day prices at the ERCOT North Hub, which includes Dallas, soared to $1,599 per megawatt hour (MWh) for Friday, the most since the 2021 February freeze when prices held over $8,000 for a couple of days. The same hub reported $925 MWh on Thursday.
That compares with an average of $85 so far this year, $78 in 2022 and a five-year (2018-2022) average of $66 per MWh.
ERCOT on Thursday avoided an emergency by urging consumers to conserve after low wind generation and high power demand created “a high potential to enter emergency operations.”
The fragility of Texas grid was highlighted in 2021 when a massive blackout killed dozens and left millions without power, water and heat for days as gas supply lines and power plants froze.
Houston, the biggest city in Texas, could reach a record-breaking 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) on Friday, said the National Weather Service, which issued an excessive heat warning for the greater Houston area. This month has had 24 days of above 100 F temperatures.
ERCOT said it expected to have around 88,200 megawatts (MW) of capacity when demand peaks at around 5 p.m. CST on Friday. Forecast demand of 84,387 MW that hour will fall short of ERCOT’s all-time high of 85,435 MW set on Aug. 10.
But as the sun goes down and solar power wanes, the grid expects supplies available over demand to tighten to less than 2,000 MW by around 8 p.m.
(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Susan Fenton)
