ERCOT hopes this summer is better than the last

That would be nice.

Managers of the state’s primary electricity grid expect to avoid rolling blackouts this summer but not without calling on Texans to turn up their thermostats and conserve power during peak usage on the season’s hottest afternoons.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is also bringing back mothballed power plants — some 35 to 40 years old — to give itself a larger margin of error than last summer’s near-miss on rolling blackouts.

ERCOT has tweaked its program that pays large industrial and commercial users to interrupt their power during emergencies and is adding to the list smaller customers who generate their own power on-site.

“We have taken an ‘all of the above’ approach to meeting Texans’ electricity needs this summer,” said Donna Nelson, who chairs the Public Utility Commission of Texas.

Despite its efforts, ERCOT, which serves 23 million people, expects “a significant chance” it will have to issue several emergency alerts asking Texans to conserve electricity, especially at the usual daily peak usage times of 4 to 7 p.m.

More information here. We’re projected to be low on reserve power by 2014, so enjoy this while you can, and do what you can to bug your elected officials about making energy conservation a priority.

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