More power plant woes likely if Texas drought drags into winter – ‘Cooling reservoirs just aren’t being replenished’
By Tom Fowler
24 August 2011
A number of Texas power plants may need to cut back operations or shut down completely if the state’s severe drought continues into the fall, an official with Texas’ main transmission manager told FuelFix.
At least one North Texas power plant has had to reduce how much it generates because the water level in its cooling reservoir has fallen significantly, said Kent Saathoff, vice president of system planning and operations for the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.
If the state’s drought continues for much longer and water levels continue falling at other power plant reservoirs, other units could be forced to curtail operations or shut-down completely, Saathoff said.
“Right now we don’t have a significant problem with it, but it could become one,” Saathoff said in an interview. “This has been the driest 12-month stretch we’ve seen in Texas in a long time.”
ERCOT has declared power emergencies several times this summer as record demand met a large number of unplanned power plant outages. Plant operators say the long hot summer has also meant more wear-and-tear due to longer operating hours for power plants.
On Aug. 4 the state came close to initiating rolling blackouts when the margin between power supply and demand grew too thin. It would have been just the fourth time in 21 years the state would have taken such extreme measures. […] “The bottom line is there’s not much we can do absent rain,” Saathoff said. “Cooling reservoirs just aren’t being replenished.”
More power plant woes likely if Texas drought drags into winter
