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The electric car company Tesla asked all Texas-based customers to avoid charging their electric vehicles during certain times of the day.
The state has been experiencing a massive heatwave. This has put incredible strain on its electrical power grid.
The electrical grid is run by a mix of fossil fuels and renewables.
Tesla sent a notice to the screens inside Tesla vehicles in Texas saying, “A heat wave is expected to impact the grid in Texas over the next few days.”
“The grid operator recommends to avoid charging during peak hours between 3pm and 8pm, if possible, to help statewide efforts to manage demand,” the alert added.
The state’s power grid is operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT).
ERCOT asked residents to conserve energy between the hours of 2:00 pm and 8:00 pm local time by not using heavy appliances during that timeframe.
More on this story via Daily Wire:
When major heat waves move through the state, wind power is often decreased due to a change in pressure in the atmosphere. Thus, the state’s wind turbines are failing to produce the necessary amount of energy to keep the grid operating without significant problems.
Texas has experienced similar issues in recent years due to extreme weather — including winter storms. The state so far has been able to avoid rolling blackouts during the latest weather calamity — which some say is because of voluntary cutbacks on energy. While others argue that the problem is overly relying on wind power or insufficient investment in the energy infrastructure.
Daniel Turner, the founder of Power the Future, told The Daily Wire that the recurring energy problems illustrate one of the major drawbacks of transferring to green energy. In recent years, Texas has spent billions increasing the capacity of its wind farms.
“Texas has spent $66 billion of taxpayer money on renewable energy with the promise of 30,000 MW of capacity,” he said in an emailed statement. “According to ERCOT for the last few days it has generated far less than that.”
On Monday, ERCOT announced, “While solar power is generally reaching near full generation capacity, wind generation is currently generating significantly less than what it historically generated in this time period. Current projections show wind generation coming in less than 10 percent of its capacity.”
