Wednesday, September 4th, 2024

Top Photo: A Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office patrol car is parked near the Puccini Lane road closure

 Recent rains occurring over the Labor Day weekend soaked the Uvalde County area with sometimes heavy showers. On Monday, September 2nd, Uvalde County Sheriff Ruben Nolasco announced on his Facebook Page road closures on a few area roads that are prone to flooding. 

About 1 PM on Sunday, September 1st, heavy rainfall was observed over the Uvalde Downtown area and at H-E-B.

 “Due to the heavy rainfall in our area, we want to inform you about road closures that are currently in effect. Please note that the following areas are closed for safety reasons: F.M. 1022, Puccini Ln., Elm Lane, and Uvalde Oaks entrance.” Nolasco said

   Flooded roads were also reported on the Uvalde Estates News and Concerns Facebook Page affecting the first and second entrances to the Estates. 

   The flooded roads prompted the Uvalde CISD Transportation Office to issue the following statement on Tuesday, September 3rd, alerting parents of potential school bus route changes 

important Notice: Uvalde CISD Bus Routes Affected by Flood Watch:

 “To Our Uvalde CISD Parents and Caregivers of Bus Riders,

   This is to inform you that, according to the National Weather Service, Uvalde County is under a Flood Watch until September 4th at midnight. Due to the heavy rainfall, road closures are in the Uvalde Estates area. Specifically, the first and second entrances to Uvalde Estates are closed due to flooding, and Uvalde County officials are currently evaluating the rest of the neighborhood for the potential of additional closures.

  Please be advised that Uvalde CISD buses will not go around any barriers, and we strongly discourage drivers from driving through low-water crossings. All parents and caregivers of bus riders must be aware that if a road closure affects your child’s usual drop-off location, you will need to pick them up at a location the bus can safely navigate. Our bus drivers will stay as close to the regular routes as possible under these circumstances.

 As a backup plan, if additional roads are closed, the drop-off location will be at the 3rd entrance on the side of the road. If you have any questions or need further information, please call the Transportation Office at 830-333-7003 before 3:00 p.m. today.”

  This morning, ERCOT avoided emergency operations due to the conservation efforts by Texas residents and businesses, combined with additional grid reliability tools.

ERCOT is expecting similar conditions on Wednesday, January 17, and will continue to closely monitor conditions and keep the public informed through our communication channels.

Tomorrow’s conservation appeal does not indicate ERCOT is experiencing emergency conditions at this time. ERCOT will remain vigilant and communicate further if conditions change because of continued freezing temperatures and very high demand in the morning hours. At this time, if you are experiencing an outage, it is local in nature and not related to overall grid reliability. Please check with your local electric provider for more information.

Conservation is a widely used industry tool that can help lower demand for a specific period of peak demand time, which is typically during the morning hours in winter.

ERCOT is requesting all government agencies (including city and county offices) to implement all programs to reduce energy use at their facilities until at least 9 a.m., tomorrow.  

ERCOT continues to use additional tools to manage the grid reliably, including using reserve power, calling upon reductions by large electric customers that have volunteered to lower their energy use, and bringing more generation online sooner. ERCOT is also working with out-of-state Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Market Participants to obtain additional power generation capacity, if available. ERCOT has obtained Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) enforcement discretion, which allows a generator to extend its service/run-time/operations to help meet demand, if needed, and maintain grid reliability.

Energy-saving tips can be found on the TXANS webpage at ercot.com/txans.

Why the Request to Reduce Usage?  

• Weather. Most of Texas is seeing extremely cold temperatures for an extended period of time.
• Demand. Texas is experiencing record-breaking demand due to the cold weather.
• Solar. Solar generation isn’t available in the early morning hours, which is a peak demand time during winter, and slowly ramps up as the sun rises.
• Wind. Wind generation is forecasted to be lower than seasonally expected in the early morning hours.

Peak Demand 

• Last night, ERCOT set a new January peak demand of 70,982 MW in the 8-9 p.m. hour, passing the previous January peak demand record of 65,915 MW set January 17, 2018, in the 7-8 a.m. hour.
• Today, ERCOT has already broken that January peak and set a new all-time winter peak demand record with 75,559 MW in the 9-10 a.m. hour.
• The previous winter peak demand record of 74,525 MW was set December 23, 2022, in the 7-8 a.m. hour during Winter Storm Elliott.
• In 2023, January peak demand was 65,632 MW in the 6-7 p.m. hour January 31.
• The all-time peak demand record of 85,508 MW occurred August 10, 2023.
• View ERCOT’s all-time peak demand records.

Consumer Assistance  

• Public Utility Commission of Texas Hotline: 1-888-782-8477

Stay Updated 

• Sign up for TXANS notifications on the TXANS webpage.
• Download the ERCOT Mobile App for additional notifications: iOS | Android.
• Monitor real-time and extended conditions at ercot.com.
• Subscribe to ERCOT Emergency Alerts, which are not sent through TXANS notifications.
• Follow ERCOT on Twitter (@ERCOT_ISO), Facebook (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), and LinkedIn (ERCOT).

This news release is also available in Spanish. Both the English and Spanish versions are accessible on the News Releases page on ercot.com.

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ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas customers, representing about 90 percent of the state’s electric load. As the Independent System Operator for the region, ERCOT schedules power on an electric grid that connects 52,700+ miles of transmission lines and 1,100+ generation units, including Private Use Networks. ERCOT also performs financial settlement for the competitive wholesale bulk-power market and administers retail switching for more than 8 million premises in competitive choice areas. ERCOT is a membership-based 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation, governed by a board of directors and subject to oversight by the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Texas Legislature.