The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) operating the state’s electric grid appealed to all electric customers to voluntarily conserve power last Monday (7/10/2022) from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Le Xie, Ph.D., Professor at Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, holder of the Segers Family Dean’s Excellence Professorship II, Chancellor EDGES Fellow, Presidential Impact Fellow, Associate Director for Energy Digitization, Texas A&M Energy Institute, TAMU, Assistant Director for Research, TEES Smart Grid Center, was interviewed by KHOU*11 on why it matters to conserve energy even in households and small businesses. Dr. Xie commented that “When it comes to peak moments, any savings, even tiny bits, helps,” and “You can never underestimate the value coming from each individual household. So, I would say at this time, every household, your decision matters.”
The full KHOU*11 news is linked here.
He was also interviewed on FOX 26. For balancing demand and generation, he said “One of the things that is very unique about the electric grid is adjusting time service system balanced on a second by second basis. ” This interview and news can be viewed here.
Dr. Xie’s research group has more information here.
The full Fox is linked here.