A dangerous heat wave is forecasted for Texas next week.
The state’s Public Utility Commission (PUC) and Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) informed customers Thursday that the power grid is in good shape and can withstand triple-digit temperatures.
The chair of the PUC told customers the number one priority next week is to keep the lights on for Texans.
“We are in a good position,” PUC Chairman Peter Lake said in a Thursday news conference.
“It will be tight for the rest of the summer,” Lake added. “We know the heat is coming, but we are ready for it.”
He stood beside interim ERCOT President Brad Jones, who also spoke about reliability across the power grid next week. It was the second time the Jones and the new chair of the PUC appeared together to reassure the public about grid stability after a disastrous grid collapse during a winter blast in February.
Jim Rouiller, the lead meteorologist at the Energy Weather Group, told Bloomberg that a heatwave would form in the Great Plains this weekend and drive temperatures in Dallas above the 100-degree mark for the first time this year. We noted earlier this week that parts of the agriculture belt would experience rising temperatures and drier conditions over the coming weeks.
Rouiller said, “next week will be the hottest week they have had all summer long. Cooling demand will be the highest we have seen all summer.” Below is the cooling demand for the Midwest. What this means is that the demand for energy needed to cool buildings will increase as temperatures rise.
Allison Prater, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Fort Worth, said Dallas-Fort Worth has yet to hit a 100F this year. Usually, the area reaches triple-digit temperatures by July 1.
This summer’s heat has been centered around the Pacific Northwest, setting record high temperatures in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, along with other surrounding states.
The high pressure, or heat dome, will be centered around Oklahoma, making conditions in Iowa to Arkansas brutal this weekend and next week
“This is the hottest one so far for them, this is the dome of doom,” Rouiller said.
Power grid prices are expected to rise through next week. As for the integrity of the power grid, there’s no telling what may happen next week, if that is outages or calls by regulators for customers to reduce power.
This article was originally published by Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge.