As nippy weather came to Texas over the weekend, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) reached a new record for instantaneous wind generation output.
On Saturday, Dec. 17, at 6:20 p.m., wind output reached a whopping 15,195 MW. This number beats the previous record of 15,033 MW, which was set on Nov. 27. Before that, the wind generation output record was 14,122 MW, reached on Nov. 17.
For comparison, during this time last year, ERCOT announced a new wind generation output record of 13,883 MW.
Overall, the independent system operator says cold winter weather across Texas this weekend drove demand for electricity to a new winter record in the region: Initial control room data recorded an hourly peak of 57,958 MW between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Dec. 19. In comparison, the previous winter peak record stood at 57,265 MW, which was hit on Feb. 10, 2011.
In addition, says ERCOT, this new winter record exceeds the previous December demand record of 53,642 MW (set Dec. 10, 2013, between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.) by more than 4,000 MW.
More on the market effects of wind penetration in the ERCOT region can be found here.
