The cold snap that has hit the southern US. UU. And advancing this Thursday to the northeast left this week more than 600,000 households and businesses without electricity in Texas, the country’s largest oil and gas producer.
There, millions of people left without heating used in recent days firewood, grills, gas generators and their own carts to heat themselves.
The crisis came after rising electricity consumption in the southern US states. UU., Caused by an icy cold, marked by polar temperatures and snowstorms.
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And although Texas is the energy lung of this country and the only continental state to have an independent energy network, the cold exposed its network failures in the face of extreme temperatures and the effects of change. climate.
Texas, which has a population of nearly 29 million, is experiencing the worst difficulties in meeting this demand explosion, As several power plants running on natural gas, wind or nuclear power and supplying cities such as Austin or Houston suffered an interruption in their operation due to these extreme conditions.
Ercot, the company in charge of distributing energy in Texas, declared a state of emergency overnight from Sunday to Monday and decided, as a precaution, to cut off certain energy sources to avoid saturation of the net. Some families ran out of electricity for more than 48 hours when the thermometer dropped to unseen marks.
On Wednesday night, the company said it had restored energy to around 1.6 million homes, adding that it was working “24 hours a day to restore energy for jeans”. But about 500,000 people were still without electricity this Thursday, according to PowerOutage.us.
According to the AFP, the storms have already left more than two million homes in Texas without electricity, which have also affected northern Mexico.
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott criticized Ercot’s handling of the crisis. “Too many jeans are deprived of electricity or heating at a time when our state is facing freezing temperatures and severe winter weather. This is unacceptable.”, Abbott said Tuesday, at the same time announcing an investigation into Ercot. For its part, the federal agency in charge of electricity and natural gas tariffs also announced that it will analyze the reasons for the power cuts. “In the coming days.”
But some experts believe the problem is mostly structural. “Ercot can’t invest in computers. He can only manage the network”, Said Ed HIRS, a professor of economics at the University of Houston.
(In other news: Polar wave EE. USA: Why is Texas experiencing temperatures in the Arctic?)
According to HIRS, Texas, which generally reaches its peak in energy activity in the late boreal summer, was not prepared for a cold snap. “There are not enough generators planned to meet a sharp increase in demand in the winter”, He said.
Texas is the energy lung of EE. UU. And by far the largest producer of crude oil and natural gas in the country, but it is also a heavyweight in wind and solar energy. This energetic ‘independence’, so remarkable in other situations, it plays against him in times of crisis, as his energy network is disconnected from the rest of the country, so he cannot import energy.
The current crisis highlighted the limits of this system. “It is a warning to the world that even regions where energy is plentiful can have problems and can be catastrophicSaid Michael Webber, a professor at the University of Texas and director of science at the Paris-based Engie Group.
The aftermath of the cold snap, which has left dozens dead across the US. UU., Has been felt in states like Mississippi, Louisiana, Oregon and Kentucky, Which recorded power outages on Thursday. In New York, a snowfall of up to 13 cm was expected last night, with about 8 cm more this morning, according to the national weather service. In addition, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has also announced the closure of several vaccination sites.
In all, more than 100 million people reside in the Midwestern USA. UU. They have been affected by winter storms.
AFP AND EFE
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