Polar vortex set to test Texas grid 22 months after failure that killed 246
Breanne Deppisch
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Texas is bracing for a polar vortex that could pose another major test for its power grid just 22 months after it was hit by Winter Storm Uri, which plunged the state into darkness and killed 246 people.
Dallas could see temperatures as low as 8 degrees Fahrenheit beginning early next week, while Houston could see temperatures in the 18-degree range, according to assessments from the National Weather Service.
Temperatures for most of the state are expected to fall below normal seasonal averages until around Dec. 29, according to the weather service, with below-freezing conditions likely to be seen across much of the Gulf Coast, including South Texas.
The winter chill could cause rolling blackouts.
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The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which operates the state’s grid, has, for its part, remained relatively optimistic about its ability to meet capacity, saying in a statement Thursday that it “expects sufficient generation” to meet next week’s power-demand forecast.
But federal regulators have warned that an extreme winter weather event could majorly stress Texas’s grid, which it says still lacks sufficient capacity to meet a situation of extreme demand.
“The effect it can have on generators, and the way demand can rise sharply in cold weather, can lead to load risk,” Mark Olson, a reliability manager at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, or NERC, told reporters on a call Thursday.
ERCOT has been under intense scrutiny in the wake of Uri in February 2021. The winter storm caused 4.5 million Texans to lose power, some for as long as four days, and resulted in 246 deaths. About 27% of outages were wind generators, but more than half were natural gas-fired units, according to a review NERC produced of the incident.
During Uri, ERCOT was forced to order 20,000 MW of rolling blackouts to prevent grid collapse in what was the largest manually controlled load-shedding event in U.S. history.
Since then, officials have made numerous upgrades to the grid, although a report issued last month from the Sunset Advisory Commission, tasked with evaluating the performance and function of state agencies, said the Texas utility regulator is “woefully under-resourced” in its efforts.
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Without additional staff and resources, the Sunset report said, the state commission “cannot truly fulfill expectations” to ensure a reliable electric grid.