Texas’s soaring summer temperatures could put this summer’s Junior and Senior National Championship meets at risk for power failure.
Bloomberg Business reports that Texas’s grid manager has asked customers to cut down on their electricity use during peak hours after power demand rocketed up high enough on Wednesday to cause two power plants to trip offline.
“We’re looking at potentially the strongest demand day over the year,” Genscape power analyst Rhodri Williams said about Thursday afternoon’s power demand.
Two power plants went offline Wednesday: one southwest of Houston and the other in San Antonio, where USA Swimming will be hosting its National and Junior National Championships through next weekend.
The weather in San Antonio has already been a subject of much conversation, with temperatures expected to be in the triple digits during the meets with little chance of rain.
The potential for power failures adds another wrinkle to the event, though USA Swimming says it does not expect any issues.
The good news is that “peak hours” of electricity use in the summer typically fall in between prelims and finals sessions of the meets. Peak hours are generally considered to be between 1pm and 7pm – that’s well after prelims should be wrapped up, and only overlapping briefly with the beginning of finals.
Weather.com predicts highs of 100 or higher every day of both Junior Nationals and Nationals, with lows in the upper-70s. Tomorrow is the only day with potential rain, and only next Thursday and Friday (the first two days of Senior Nationals) are forecasted as “partly cloudy” and not “sunny.”
The complex has 4 pools that are at risk if power goes out. I know that the competition pool has two huge filtration units, plus the pump motors for each, and no doubt a chiller plant to keep it cool in all that heat. Same for the indoor 50m pool, and smaller filtration and cooling plants for the diving well and the instructional pool. But, normally, power outages don’t last too long. I’m imagining just a few seconds while power from another station gets routed into the grid. The first thing anyone will notice is the scoreboards going blank and the PA going silent. IDK whether Omega has battery back-up, but those races may be at risk if an outage… Read more »
There have been 35 Democrat Governorsof Texas & 7 Republican Governors ( including 2 in the Reconstruction) 1 Unionist & 1 Independent .
So on Bobo’s French logic , Texas as oil & gas producer & refiner of imported heavy crude & one of the world’s biggest economies is the Republican Party’s Success story . They’ll take that Bobo with pride .
It was the introduction of air conditioning in the early 60s that changed the demographic growth of the US from North to S & Sw USA . .
Bobo, this is far simpler than your conspiracy theories: It is and has always been too hot in central Texas to host an outdoor meet. Nice as the San Antonio facility is, there are great reasons the premier facility, the Texas Swim Center at UT, is indoors: It is too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer to host premier meets outside on Texas.
USAS picking San Antonio for summer Nationals is only marginally smarter than were they to choose winter nationals outdoors in the northeast.
Extreme heat will become the norm in the coming years.
And places like Texas are among the biggest responsible places for pollution and then global warming. Huge fossil energy producer, the energy of the past. State killer. And killer not only about the soil and air pollution unfortunately…. Texas governors have such blood on their hands. But that’s another debate.
we don’t produce a ton of oil, it just passes through us. i work in oil and gas in texas.
I’m guessing you drive a Prius…
I hope these extremes of heat and light and humidity don’t become the norm in coming years…
Fyi, meanwhile, word on the street in Greensboro’s that Futures’ so bright, ya gotta wear shades….
#StayThirstyMyFriends
It’s Texas. It’s hot. Get a grip. Arizona anyone? The meets will be awesome. Junior Nationals is already awesome.
A lot of swimmers can deal with the heat. I think they’re just worried about problems that would arise if the power went out.