Texas’ main power grid struggled to keep up with the demand for electricity Monday, prompting the operator to ask Texans to conserve power until Friday.
The conservation request comes at a time of heightened anxiety around electricity following the state’s catastrophic February power outages that left millions without electricity for days. The outages that were prompted by a severe winter storm may have killed as many as 700 people, according to an analysis of mortality data by Buzzfeed news.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas said in a statement that a significant number of power plant outages combined with record use of electricity has resulted in tight grid conditions. Approximately 11,000 megawatts of generation is offline for repairs, or enough to power 2.2 million homes on a hot summer day. Typically, only about 3,600 megawatts of generation is offline during a summer day.
