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ERCOT to test emergency alert system tonight

The test is a part of ERCOT's aggressive pre-summer preparation activities.

DALLAS — The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) said it will test its emergency alert system Wednesday starting at 7 p.m.

The alerts will include notifications to the ERCOT mobile app, tweets on the ERCOT page, emails to the ERCOT distribution list, and messages/notices on the ERCOT website, ERCOT said in a news release.

This test is a part of ERCOT's aggressive pre-summer preparation activities, ERCOT said. The alerts are automated.

ERCOT said it expects that there will be enough generation to meet the summer 2021 peak demand, according to a news release from May 6.

"ERCOT announced plans to visit selected power plants across the state to review summer weatherization plans," the release said. "While plant visits have occurred in the past for winter weatherization, this is the first time officials will visit plants for summer."

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During a potential grid event, ERCOT would use the automated notification system to send timely communications through these channels directly from the control room.

ERCOT received criticism for the February winter storm after initially saying that "rotating outages" were expected. Instead, millions of people in Texas went without power for days in subfreezing temperatures.

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As of April 28, the state says that 151 people died in relation to the storm. Grocery stores were empty of necessities and people had to boil water after water systems went down due to the outages.

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