Dottie scans her pass card at one door. Then another. At the third, she slides a manicured fingertip across a biometric reader. On either side of that door, shiny metal pillars glow like blue-eyed Cylon sentries, recording the number of people tied to Dottie’s print. If our group came back out one person short, the sentries would sound an alarm.
On the other side of all this security sits the control room of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas—the primary nerve center for one of the United States’ three main electrical grid sectors. (The fact that the nation’s grid is divided into East, West and Texas strikes me as very, hilariously … Texan.) From this soaring room—its massive video wall looming over rows of desks where technicians sit surrounded by squadrons of eight-to-10 monitors each—come the commands that keep electricity flowing smoothly throughout the entire state.
Working in 12-hour shifts, 24/7, the staff here monitors weather, power plant output, the availability of electricity generated out of state—all the factors that influence the frequency of electricity pulsing through the grid, and whether minute-by-minute electricity supply will be able to meet demand. Upset that delicate balance and you get brownouts, blackouts, and all manner of crawling heebie-jeebies.
I got inside the ERCOT control room last week, as part of research I’m doing for my upcoming book on the future of energy in the United States. Besides being its own grid sector, Texas also has the highest installed wind capacity of any state—9,317 MW, as of June 30. Unlike fossil fuel electricity, wind power can’t be held at a steady rate. Changes happen, and they can happen in an instant. Control centers like ERCOT’s—which exist all over the country—do the work of making flighty wind play nice with the slow-and-steady grid. I thought y’all would like a peek inside.
More photos follow.
You can read more about the variability of renewable energy in this story I wrote for Discover last year.