AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) issued a “Weather Watch” for Wednesday, May 8.

ERCOT said in a post on social media the watch was issued due to “unseasonably high temperatures, high levels of expected maintenance outages during the spring shoulder months, and the potential for lower reserves.”

“Obviously, you want the most of your power generation on during the harshest weather months of the year — that being the dead of winter and the very height of summer. So in order to prepare for those two weather extremes, you take certain generation units offline to make sure that they’re ready for what’s coming,” said Matt Mitchell, public information officer at Austin Energy.

The grid operator said grid conditions are expected to be normal during a Weather Watch and can be monitored online.

According to ERCOT, a Weather Watch is an advance notification of forecasted significant weather with higher electrical demand and the potential for lower reserves.

ERCOT at this time has not issued a conservation request.

The KXAN First Warning Weather Team is forecasting Wednesday as having a high of 93°F and a low of 72°F. The Heat Index could land in the upper 90s to between 100° and 102°.

“This weather watch is one of those reminders that we’re getting closer to summer, and we’re getting close to those high temperatures and triple digits that we’ve become accustomed to in Central Texas,” said Mitchell.

Understanding ERCOT’s alert levels

ERCOT has several different Energy Emergency Alert levels, or EEAs. After Normal Grid Conditions, the levels are Conservation Alert level, then EEA 1, 2, and 3.

Here’s what the alert levels mean:

• Conservation Alert: This is a voluntary request to reduce electrical use, ERCOT said. While ERCOT said it is not in emergency operations, it asks the public and “all government agencies to implement all programs to reduce energy use at their facilities.”
• Energy Emergency Level 1: Conservation is considered to be critical. We reach this stage when operating reserves drop below 2,500 MW (previously 2,300 MW) and are not expected to recover within 30 minutes.
• Emergency Level 2: Triggered when reserves are less than 2,000 MW (previously 1,750 MW) and are not expected to recover within 30 minutes. At this point, ERCOT can reduce demand on the system by interrupting power from large industrial customers who have contractually agreed to have their electricity turned off during an emergency.
• Emergency Level 3: The final level hits when reserves drop below 1,430 MW. If operating reserves then drop below 1,000 MW and are not expected to recover within 30 minutes and/or the grid’s frequency level cannot be maintained at 59.8 Hz, then ERCOT will implement “controlled outages,” also known as rolling blackouts.