WIND STABILIZED TEXAS GRID IN BIG FREEZE

Cold pushes Texas power use to winter record

Eileen O’Grady, January 7, 2014 (Reuters)

“Below-freezing temperatures across Texas pushed power use to a new winter record…but the state avoided a…power emergency as generating supplies improved…Sufficient generation and higher wind output from West Texas wind farms boosted the state's electric supply…when the grid operator declared an emergency as power plants shut unexpectedly…Prices ranged from $25 to $600 per megawatt-hour as demand peaked, down from [the previous day] when prices hit the $5,000 price cap for about one hour…ERCOT was able to avert rolling outages Monday by importing power and implementing demand response programs to curb rising demand…One of the state's largest power plants, Luminant's Comanche Peak 1 nuclear reactor, is operating at 72 percent of capacity…[M]ore than 3,700 megawatts of generation was forced to shut...on top of nearly 10,000 MW of generation that was already shut for the season or for planned maintenance…” click here for more

click to enlarge

Tweet