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It's an essential part of our growing efforts to reduce global warming emissions, clean our air, and prepare for the growing consequences of climate change. To ensure that momentum continues toward renewable energy-and to set the stage for even higher levels of renewable energy in the future-we must modernize the electricity grid. If we don’t upgrade our systems now, we run the risk of over-relying on natural gas rather than taking advantage of renewable energy sources that meet our needs with cleaner, more reliable electricity. This is especially crucial as renewable energy continues to boom and solar and wind power grow rapidly across the country. Today power flows from many more sources-including rooftop solar, wind power, and battery storage-and the grid needs to catch up to the progress we've made. Now new technologies are making this approach to electricity transmission-and its supporting infrastructure-increasingly outdated. Our current grid was built decades ago and was designed primarily for transmitting electricity from large, centralized power plants, most of which use dirty sources like coal and natural gas.
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Learn more about how the electricity grid works.īut there's a problem. And it does so every minute of every day, year-round. It provides electricity to buildings, industrial facilities, schools, and homes. The electricity grid transmits power generated at a variety of locations and distributes it to end users-like you!-often over long distances. But he said the government shouldn’t have to ask Texans to take on the responsibility of protecting the power grid.It's time for an upgrade-to a better, cleaner, and more reliable electricity grid. The 38-year-old jeweler said he generally tries to conserve energy to keep his electricity bill low, turning up the thermostat to 76 degrees before he leaves the house.
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Pflugerville resident Chris Lee did not change his energy habits on Wednesday either. The legal assistant spent Wednesday afternoon in the shade of a large tree at Austin’s Barton Springs Pool with one of her five children. Nicole Nagy, 40, said she already practiced energy conservation in her everyday life and was not going to “ride the rollercoaster” that is the unpredictability of the grid’s stability and ERCOT’s calls for conservation. I’m on a walker - I can’t go to no cooling center all the time.”ĮRCOT’s appeal to conserve energy was voluntary, which means some Texans could choose not to respond. “Everyone can’t get up and go to a cooling center. “But there’s got to be something for people that have health issues,” Miller said. Miller said she has trouble breathing when it’s hot out, but she understands the grid operator needs help from Texans to protect the state’s power network. Residents like Grey have responded to ERCOT's pleas, while other Texans say the grid’s stability is the responsibility of state leaders. In the end, the grid remained stable and ERCOT did not have to implement any serious emergency measures this week.īut tight grid conditions have become a source of anxiety, confusion and trauma, and conservation requests are a reminder that the state still struggles to keep up with the growing demand for power. Demand on the grid was reduced on Monday by 500 megawatts during the time of the first conservation request on Wednesday, demand was reduced by at least 100 megawatts. The all-time record for demand has already been broken several times this summer.Ī spokesperson for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas said some Texans responded to this week’s requests. The grid must keep supply and demand in balance at all times, and when it falls below its safety margin of excess supply, the grid operator takes additional precautions to avoid blackouts. And back in May, ERCOT asked Texans to conserve power during a heat wave that coincided with six power plant outages.Īsking people to reduce electricity usage is the first step ERCOT takes when the stability of Texas’ power grid is threatened. Twice this week the state’s main power grid operator has asked Texans to cut back on their energy use.