Climate Changed

In Hot, Muggy Texas, Power Prices Spiked Above $920 a Megawatt

  • Demand exceeding day-ahead forecast by up to 2.6 gigawatts
  • Wind turbine output slumped as air-cooling demand surged
Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg
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Power prices in Texas jumped more than 25-fold Tuesday afternoon as hot, humid weather fueled demand faster than expected.

Across the region overseen by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, power briefly spiked to $920.48 a megawatt-hour at about 12:30 p.m. local time, then fell to the $30s and $40s in most regions, Genscape analyst Jeffrey Thibodeau said.