These and other facilities are the focus of state hearings on why power plants did not heed the warnings of the 2011 storm to hibernate better and prepare for the cold in Texas. The data suggest that changes had been made after the plants failed in 2011, possibly staying in line during the brutal winter cold of 2021.
That cold was responsible for freezing the natural gas supply lines to the plants, the water lines that power the power generation units, and the freezing of the machinery. These were some of the many problems that led to the shutdown of power plants.
Of Texas power generators that were not operational during the storm, ERCOT CEO Bill Magness said the freeze was responsible for 42% of the failures.
According to records released by ERCOT, at least 71 individual power generation units in Harris County only failed during the mid-February winter storm at 11 different locations, including energy giants Calpine and NRG. All sites that failed in Harris County ran on natural gas.
But the data is incomplete and does not include all the power generation companies that had problems. Only the companies that agreed to reveal their names were on the list, the rest remain secret.
According to records, statewide, 1,797 units failed at least 356 power plants in Texas.
The 2011 storm was much less severe over time, and required blackouts but only for part of the day.
ERCOT officials said the magnitude of the forced blackouts, the largest in Texas history, was necessary to prevent an even more catastrophic failure that would have wiped out most of the state’s 30 million residents. for months.
Curtis Morgan, CEO of Vistra Corp., told lawmakers from the beginning that the blackouts affected plants that could have generated more energy than was urgently needed. He said that when his company officials called the utility providers, they were told they were not a priority.
Vistra’s subsidiaries include Luminant, which operates about two dozen plants throughout Texas. Morgan blamed obsolete lists of critical infrastructure in Texas for darkening gas processors and production sites as network managers began shutting down parts of the system.
Morgan did not say how many of the company’s plants were shut down or for how long, but said the company was three minutes from the disconnection of a nuclear power plant and that the capital’s main power grid American was just minutes away from total collapse. On Feb. 15, he said he had contacted state officials, including Abbott’s office, with concerns.
“We were dangerously close to losing the entire electrical system,” Morgan said.
Of Texas power generators that were not operational during the storm, ERCOT CEO Bill Magness said the freeze was responsible for 42% of the faults. Lack of fuel and weather-related damage to equipment also contributed, but Magness said that for 38% of plant cuts, the problem is still unclear.
The outages lasted for days in millions of Texas homes, and millions more water was lost as water treatment plants were shut down and miles of pipes burst across the state. The storm toll included at least 15 hypothermia-related deaths in Houston, said Democratic State Representative Ana Hernandez, vice chair of the House State Affairs Committee.
The crisis has put Texas and fossil fuel industry under heavy scrutiny by lawmakers who raise millions of dollars in unlimited policy contributions of energy interests, more than any other sector.
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