ERCOT/SPP Outage Updates

Around 2:30 a.m. on February 15, ERCOT instructed us to shed our load. Members in the Rolling Plains area are experiencing these outages. ERCOT is controlling the duration of the outages. Over 1 million Texans are without power due to the ERCOT outages. We will resume service as soon as ERCOT gives us clearance. You can find more information from ERCOT here.

 

 

We will make updates our Facebook page and our website as they become available.

 

Click here for additional outage information.

 

Update: Thursday, February 18, 2:15 p.m.

SPP Update (Lubbock and surrounding areas/Group A)- As of Thursday morning, SPP has returned to normal operations.

 

ERCOT Update (Rolling Plains area/Group B)- As of now, the grid is becoming much more stable. Load shedding and rotating outages have ceased, but keeping the grid stabilized is crucial to avoiding additional rotating outages. Your conservation efforts have made a tremendous impact!

 

We want to extend a sincere thank you to all of our members for working with us through these events. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we navigated a record-breaking winter storm and the consequential ERCOT and SPP mandates, and are extremely grateful for the hard work and dedication of all our employees to keeping the lights on during this time. Thank you for being a Cooperative member!

 

Update: Thursday, February 18, 11:15 a.m.

At 11:15 a.m. today, SPP is no longer under an energy emergency alert. Due to continuing cold weather, it remains in a period of conservative operations until 10 p.m. tonight. Early this morning, SPP was teetering between at Level 1 and 2 and our members answered the call to conserve, so we didn’t have to implement rotating outages.

 

Update: Thursday, February 18, 6:45 a.m.

SPP is at a Level 1, however, they are expecting a spike around 7 a.m.  Please conserve energy this morning as you are getting ready so we can avoid rotating outages. We did it yesterday, thanks! Turn down thermostats, turn off lights and don’t use large appliances. We love our members!

 

Update: Wednesday, February 17, 4:20 p.m.

ERCOT (Rolling Plains/Group B) update: At approximately 1:30 p.m. today, ERCOT released enough capacity back to us that we were able to restore service for all residential, farm and ranch members. If you are a member in the ERCOT area and still do not have power, please report your outage by calling 806.741.0111, texting OUT to 85700 or using the SPEC App. We have suspended rotating outages for now, so your outage may be due to another, mechanical issue. We will send a crew out to troubleshoot your outage. This situation has been frustrating and extremely inconvenient for our members, and we just want you to know how much we appreciate you for hanging in there with us. Also, a special thanks to the 16 Spur and Childress employees who continued to work around-the-clock for our members, while they and their families were also without of power.

SPP (Lubbock/Group A) update: At 1:15 p.m. today, SPP declared a Level 1 for its entire 14-state balancing authority area. We were teetering back-and-forth between at Level 2 and 3 early this morning. It was only because YOU answered the call for conservation that we didn’t have to do rotating outages this morning. We posted for conservation help at 6:23 a.m. this morning, and our load leveled off and held steady through 8:00 a.m. We are so proud and appreciative of our members!

We have another 24-hours of extreme weather ahead of us, so we ask ALL members to band together and conserve electricity any way you can! We can’t say THANK YOU enough. We love our members!

 

Update: Wednesday, February 17, 7:10 a.m.

SPP is at a Level 2. They will not start mandating outages unless we hit a Level 3. Please continue to conserve energy this morning.

• Turn thermostats down.
• Don’t use large appliances.
• Turn off all lights you aren’t using.                                             
• Unplug appliances that you don’t intend to use.

We will continue to post updates as we hear more. Thanks in advance for your conservation efforts.

(ERCOT Update) Load shed and rotating outages will continue until the weather emergency ends. http://www.ercot.com/ A list of warming centers can be found on the graphic posted and here: https://tdem.texas.gov/warm/

Please remember, Group A and Group B are on completely different grids. We must comply with what we are told to do by each grid operator. We will update this post when we get more information from SPP and ERCOT.

 

Update: Wednesday, February 17, 6:23 a.m.

(SPP Update) We expect SPP (Lubbock area members/Group A) to start mandating rotating outages this morning. SPP can ask for more load shed at any moment, so all of our members need to be prepared for rotating outages without notice: https://spp.org/markets-operations/current-grid-conditions/. Please try to conserve energy as you are getting ready this morning. We will continue to update this post as we hear more from SPP.

 

Update: Tuesday, February 16, 4:30 p.m.

SPP (Lubbock area members/Group A) is teetering back and forth between levels. Remember, the more energy we conserve, the less likely SPP is to mandate rotating outages. Everyone getting ready for work this morning helped drive us to the rotating outage stage. So please keep that in mind as your return home from work. There are many ways you can make an impact:

• Stop and pick up curbside instead of cooking.
• Unplug unused devices.
• Turn your thermostat down by a few degrees.
• Put off using appliances such as your washer, dryer, dishwasher or vacuum.
• Turn off unnecessary lights.
• Put blankets, towels and pillows in the windowsills and doorways to keep cold air from coming in.

 

ERCOT (Rolling Plains/Group B) is still currently experiencing a Level 3 and requiring rotating outages to shed load. This means members are still experiencing rotating outages. We know this is inconvenient and uncomfortable. Unfortunately, we are contractually obligated to follow mandates from ERCOT, the grid operator. When electricity demand exceeds supply, the grid becomes unstable. Implementing rotating outages is the best way to prevent compromising the entire grid, which would result in widespread, prolonged power outages. We must conserve power and keep the grid as stable as possible. Here are a few ways you can help conserve energy:

• Unplug unused devices.
• Turn your thermostat down by a few degrees.
• Put off using appliances such as your washer, dryer or dishwasher.
• Turn off unnecessary lights.
• Put blankets, towels and pillows in the windowsills and doorways to keep cold air from coming in.

 

It is crucial to keep the grid stabilized. We appreciate your patience and understanding during these adverse times. As far as outage lengths, we are at the mercy of ERCOT and the amount to shed mandating to us. With the severity of this event, our mandated amount is too large to not include our residential and farm/ranch members.

 

Finally, we have some recommendations of places that are serving as warming centers for the Rolling Plains area, but please comment on this post with more if you are aware of any. We will post any updates we have to this post. Tomorrow, we will create a new post for updates, so check back.

 

Update: Tuesday, February 16, 7:05 a.m.

(SPP Update) We have been mandated to start rotating outages on the SPP side now (Lubbock area members/Group A/green area to the left of the black line). We will start will oil and commercial loads but all our members need to be prepared for rotating outages. For more information from SPP click here. 

These are the substations on SPP that are experiencing rotating outages: Robertson, Ralls, Pleasant Hill, Slaton, Halfway, Becton, Caprock, Acuff, New Deal, Posey, Cotton Center, County Line, Frenship, Union, Abernathy, Hurlwood, Idalou, Shallowater.

(ERCOT Update) Rolling outages continue and will continue until the weather emergency ends. For more information from ERCOT click here.

 

Update: Monday, February 15, 6:00 p.m.

 

Update 6:00 p.m.: ERCOT update: (This affects members in green to the right of black line or area B on map) ERCOT has let us know that our members need to prepare for rotating outages for at least the next 24 to 48 hours. Rolling Plains members, when you go offline, it is likely you will be off for 3-4 hours and back on 1-2 hours.

SPP update: (This affects our Lubbock area members or the green area to the left of the black line or area A on map in comments.)Thanks for following the call for conserving power! SPP has reduced back to Level 2, calling for continued conservation. Keep up the good work!

 

Update: Monday, February 15, 11:33 a.m.

 

Here is some important information concerning the ERCOT outages:

-The ERCOT outages affect our Rolling Plains members. A map is listed below. The black line is where our two grids meet but they are not connected. SPEC is green, ERCOT is blue and SPP is gold. The right side of our service area is in ERCOT and the left is in SPP.

-ERCOT originally said rotating outages would be shorter durations, however, due to the severity of the situation, extended outages are happening and expected to continue. ERCOT expects rotating outages to last until the weather emergency ends.

-South Plains Electric Cooperative must comply with ERCOT. It is not a choice for us to comply. We love our members and we want you all to stay safe.

-To ensure that power comes back on smoothly, please turn off heaters and other appliances until after the power is restored.

-Our Lubbock area members are on a different grid (SPP), but SPP is calling for everyone to conserve energy.

 

ERCOT is the power grid for SPEC’s Rolling Plains area (in green to the right of black line or area B on map in comments), and more than one million Texans are also without power. We have not seen these temperatures since the late 1970s. The ERCOT area has become very dependent on wind generation, and we are seeing reports of the wind turbines freezing. Natural gas shortages are also creating serious issues for power generators. https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/news/2021/02/14/historic-winter-storm-freezes-texas-wind-turbines-hampering-electric-generation/4483230001/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=gh-lubbockaj-main&fbclid=IwAR2Nw4cy9nXhvv1DX-l7njn7ioF3LiIXTtTimNVP25yYqJsqt3NPi-ny1FQ

We have crews out in the ERCOT area pulling fuses to all loads but residential and farm use, so as ERCOT allows us to bring some circuits back on, our residential and farm use loads are the only priority. We will keep service on for as long as ERCOT allows us, but they are expecting rotating outages to last until the weather emergency ends. This is not an infrastructure issue that SPEC can control, rather, it is a supply and demand issue being controlled by ERCOT.

SPP is the power grid for Lubbock and surrounding areas (in the green to the left of the black line or area A on the map in comments). SPP is now at a level three which means we must be prepared for rotating outages. We must conserve energy to avoid outages. Please turn off lights, turn down the thermostat to at least 68 degrees, don’t dry clothes and don’t use large kitchen appliances at lunch/dinner.

 

FAQs

Q-You keep talking about the ERCOT power grid and SPP power grid. What is a power grid?

A-A power grid is a network for delivering electricity to consumers, similar to a network of highways. A power grid includes generator stations, transmission lines and towers, and individual consumer distribution lines. ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, manages the flow of electric power to more than 26 million Texas consumers – representing about 90% of the state’s electric load. SPP, Southwest Power Pool, manages the flow of electric power in the central United States on behalf of a diverse group of utilities and transmission companies in 17 states.

 

Q-Why are some members experiencing outages and others are not?

A-South Plains Electric cooperative serves members in the Rolling Plains area from the ERCOT grid and Lubbock area from the SPP grid. As of now, the ERCOT grid has more demand than capacity /electricity, so they have ordered the rotating outages to keep the most critical systems (like a hospital) up and running. SPP is back at a level 2, calling for continued conservation.

 

Q-Why does SPEC need to comply with ERCOT and SPP?

A-All distribution utilities are contractually obligated to follow mandates from each grid operator. When electricity demand exceeds supply, the grid becomes unstable and the risk is that 100% of the grid will be experiencing an outage. Implementing rotating outages is the best way to keep 100% of the

grid from going down.

 

Q-How do you decide who is out and how long they are out.

A-Each grid operator gives us an amount of load that needs to be taken offline. Once we take members offline, we can’t bring them back online until ERCOT/SPP tells us that there is enough electricity to meet the demand.

 

Q-ERCOT said rotating outages would be 10-45 minutes, but that has not been the case. Why?

A-That was ERCOT’s expectation when they issued the press release that we passed along to our members. The situation continued to worsen, and last we heard from ERCOT, outages will continue for at least 24-48 hours, and will not be over until the weather emergency is over. Be prepared for extended outages.

 

Q-When will you start cutting SPP members off?

A-SPP is currently at a level 2, calling for more conservation. Continued conservation will help keep everyone online.

 

Q-How do I know if I am a part of the rotating outages? Do I still need to report my outage?

A-Yes, please report your outage by calling 888-741-0111, on your SPEC App or by texting SPEC to 85700, if you have signed up for outage texting.

 

Q-How does my neighbor have power and I don't?

A-Neighbors may be on different circuits, so one circuit might be on while another is off.

  

Q-How did y’all let this happen?

A-SPEC is complying with outage orders from the grid operators at ERCOT or SPP. The grid operators tell us how much load we have to turn off and for how long.  This is not an infrastructure issue, like having poles and wires down. This is a supply and demand issue where the grid has more demand for electricity than supply to meet the demand. We are passing along conservation and rotating outage issues as soon as we receive them from the grid operators. You can find this information on our social media sites and on our website at SPEC.coop. This is a supply and demand issue where the grid has more demand for electricity than supply to meet the demand. Over the past few years as Texas has become more dependent on renewables, coal-fired plants were forced out of business and natural gas-fired plants became the only generation to supplement the renewable power. This weather event has taken much of the wind and solar power offline, because the turbines are freezing up and there is limited sun to generate solar power. Much of the available natural gas is being used by individual residences and businesses with natural gas heat, leaving limited supplies available to the natural-gas generation plants.

 

Q-How long will I be out?

A-We don’t know, because we can only restore circuits when ERCOT/SPP tells us we can do so. It is best to be prepared for prolonged outages.

 

Q-How can we be prepared for prolonged outages?

A-Get blankets ready. Have extra batteries for a flashlight and have candles and matches handy. Get the camping gear out of the garage and use the sleeping bags and camp stove to increase your comfort level. Have a manual can opener and food items that don’t need cooked or heated and plenty of bottled water. If you have firewood and a fireplace, light a fire. Dress in layers and stay indoors. Fill your bathtubs with water for flushing toilets.

 

Q-What if I am medically dependent on electricity?

A-We want you to be prepared to have an alternate location for shelter or be ready to put your backup plan in place. Often hospitals, community centers, hotels, etc., have back up generators. We will share information about alternate shelter locations from the local emergency management agencies. If you do not have a back-up location where you can travel to, now is the time to make those arrangements.

 

Q-When will we hear more?

A-As we get updates from ERCOT/SPP, we will update our Facebook post and website.