Texas was “seconds and minutes away” from the “month-long” power outages, ERCOT CEO, who was defending grid shutdowns, said Thursday.
A week of freezing temperatures destroyed about a third of the state’s offline generation capacity, leading to the largest forced shutdown in U.S. history and exposing the state’s weaknesses. Texas’ unique approach to managing power grids.
The Texas Electric Reliability Council, or ERCOT, operates the power grid that covers most of the state and was behind the decision to have continuous shutdowns that left up to 4 million people suffering from freezing temperatures.
Its chief executive, Bill Magness, told The Texas Tribune on Thursday that if operators had not acted “immediately” in implementing them Monday morning, the state would have faced an “indefinitely long” power crisis.
He said, ‘It was seconds and minutes [from possible failure] given the amount of generation leaving the system “.
Texas was “seconds and minutes” from power outages for “months” Bill Magness, pictured, said ERCOT CEO defending grid shutdowns on Thursday
A week of freezing temperatures destroyed about a third of the state’s offline generation capacity, leading to the largest forced shutdown in U.S. history and exposing the state’s weaknesses. Texas’ unique approach to managing power grids. Texas cities appear on January 31 with electricity and then on February 16 without
Energy officials had seen large amounts of grid supply fall when temperatures dropped enough to freeze natural gas supply lines and prevent wind turbines from spinning.
Falling temperatures also caused jeans to turn on the heaters, including many inefficient electricity. Demand rose to levels normally seen only on the hottest days of summer, when millions of air conditioners run at full tilt.
Magness added: “What happens in the next minute may be three more [power generation] the units go offline and then you sink.
Houston, Texas: Donated water is distributed to residents Thursday. A water crisis was also unfolding after Texas officials ordered 7 million people to boil tap water before drinking it
Houston, Texas: A person carries empty propane tanks Thursday and takes them to refill at a propane gas station after the winter weather has caused power outages
On Thursday, the Texans began to see the restoration of power.
But the storm has left at least 15 people dead statewide; In the Houston area, a family died due to carbon monoxide when the car was slowing down in its garage.
A 75-year-old woman and her three grandchildren died in a fire that authorities said could have been caused by a chimney they were using.
And Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has accused ERCOT of misleading citizens with messages that the network was ready for the storm.
Furious jeans also demand answers after energy producers warned their teams would not hold up to such a cold blow.
After the state’s last major freeze, during the 2011 Super Bowl in Arlington, Texas, a federal analysis found that energy producers’ procedures for wintering their equipment “were inadequate or not being followed properly.” ” in many cases.
Wylie, Texas: Residents displaced by this week’s severe winter weather take refuge in a school
Austin, Texas: Shoppers walk past a bare shelf while people stock up on necessities at the HEB grocery store Thursday. The Uri winter storm has caused historic cold storms and power outages in Texas, as storms have swept through 26 states
Killeen, Texas: Thursday, vehicles stopped heading south on Interstate 35
In defense of the network, Bernadette Johnson, senior vice president of energy and renewable energy at Enverus, told The Tribune: “As chaotic as it may be, the entire network could have been shut down. ERCOT is getting very hot, but the fact that it was not worse is due to these network operators.
“The operators who took these actions to prevent a catastrophic shutdown and much worse damage to our system, was, I would say, the most difficult decision that had to be made throughout this event.”
But Ed Hirs, an energy fellow at the University of Houston, rejected ERCC’s claim that this week’s freeze was unpredictable. “That’s nonsense,” he said. ‘Every eight to ten years we have very bad winters. Not a surprise.
Texas has a network quite disconnected from others to circumvent federal regulation.
This means that it is not related to other states and therefore cannot borrow power from them, a system that the state implemented to circumvent federal regulation.
The single system, which avoids regulation in favor of market incentives, now faces a backlash to allow power generators to evade preparations for a winter storm once in a decade.
Continuous blackouts are usually triggered when reserves fall below a certain level.
Network operators say continued blackouts are the last resort when energy demand overwhelms supply and threatens to create a wider collapse of the entire power system.
ERCOT operates the power grid that covers most of the state and was behind the decision to have continuous blackouts that left up to 4 million people enduring downtime in low-freezing temperatures. Houston is shown from space during blackouts
Utilities typically cover certain blocks or areas before cutting off power to another area and then to another. Areas with hospitals, fire stations, water treatment plants and other key facilities are often saved.
Through the blackouts, no neighborhood is supposed to spend an unfairly long period without power, but that wasn’t always the case this week in Texas.
Some areas never lost power, while others were turned off for 12 hours or more as temperatures dropped from the digits.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Texas woke up on Thursday to a fourth day without power.
A water crisis was also unfolding after Texas officials ordered 7 million people to boil tap water before drinking it.
The latest breakdown sparked growing outrage and demands for answers about how Texas, whose Republican leaders last year mocked California over the continued blackouts of the Democratic state, failed such a massive test of a big point. of state pride: energy independence.