By Scott DiSavino

(Reuters) – Texas’ power demand broke its June record Monday. It will keep rising and surpass the all-time peak later in the week. This is because of economic growth and the hot weather that causes people and businesses to turn on their air conditioners.

Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the grid for over 26 million Texas customers and represents about 90% of all the state’s power loads, stated that it has enough resources to satisfy forecast demand.

Extreme weather reminded Texans about the deadly February freeze 2021 that caused millions to be without heat and water for days. ERCOT tried to keep the grid from collapsing after a unusually high amount of generation had been shut off.

AccuWeather had predicted high temperatures for Houston (the largest city in Texas) to rise from the low 90s Fahrenheit (32.2 Celsius), early this week, to 101 F Saturday. This is compared to the normal city high at this time of year of 91 F.

ERCOT announced that after setting a May record at 71,688 megawatts, (MW), on May 31 ERCOT saw demand rise to 72,386MW on June 6. This surpasses the June record of 70.257 MW in 2021.

ERCOT projected that peak demand would continue to rise this week, reaching 75,858MW on Tuesday and 75,868MW on Wednesday. 76,323MW was on Thursday. 77,110MW was on Friday. This will surpass the grid’s record high of 74.820 MW in August 2019.

A megawatt of power can supply approximately 1,000 homes in the United States on any given day. However, it is only 200 homes that are available on hot Texas summer days.

ERCOT projected that economic growth would continue to boost peak demand, which will rise to 77.317 MW by the end of this summer. Grid expects that the number of available power resources this summer will increase to 91.392 MW due to the increased availability of solar and wind plants.

Graphic: Texas power demand to soar to record high this year Texas power demand to soar to record high this year – https://graphics.reuters.com/TEXAS-POWER/ERCOT/gkplgzymyvb/chart.png