In Texas, the winter storm can cause power outages

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Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration on Friday afternoon for all counties in Texas, when a major winter storm threatens to destroy the state’s power grid, power lines and roads.

“Texas must follow the guidance of its local leaders and be alert to changing weather conditions in its area,” said Abbott in a press release.

The state’s power grid could hit a record winter electricity demand for Texans trying to warm up this weekend. This means that the capacity of the Texas power grid, most of which is managed by the Texas Electric Reliability Council, will be put to the test. It is unclear whether this will result in continuous blackouts in Texas or “rotating outages”, as ERCOT calls system power outages.

“We have maybe seven days of very serious stress here,” said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston.

Abbott’s order arrives while the National Weather Service has issued warnings or winter storm alerts for most of the state. The freezing weather should last during the weekend and until Monday night. The Dallas-Fort Worth and Central Texas areas may see light accumulations of 3 to 6 inch ice and snow, according to a warning.

Some areas have already suffered power outages or frozen roads. In Fort Worth, more than 130 vehicles were involved in a fatal highway accident on Thursday.

The northern Texas alert said the thermal sensation should drop below 15 degrees. The service is also forecasting record single-digit temperatures across much of Texas in the coming days. The 6-degree forecast on Tuesday in Austin would be the coldest minimum since December 1989, according to the Austin American-Statesman.

“Traveling will be dangerous,” said the alert from the National Weather Service. “The dangerous conditions will persist for several days, due to the expected prolonged duration of extremely low temperatures. Cold winds as low as 15 below zero can result in hypothermia if precautions are not taken. “

In the statement, Abbott wrote that the climate would pose an “imminent threat” of material damage, injuries and loss of life due to freezing temperatures, snow and rain.

Abbott ordered the Texas Emergency Management Division to deploy a variety of state resources, including through the Texas Department of Transportation to prepare roads, the Texas Highway Patrol to assist arrested drivers and the Public Utility Commission to monitor and report power outages.

Electricity regulators are expecting electricity demand in the coming days to be slightly below the record demand typically seen in the summer, when Texans turn on their air conditioners to cool. But the Texas electricity market is set up for summer electricity demand. It is not prepared for winter, experts say.

Extra generators – like natural gas plants – are working to withstand high energy demand during the Texas heat.

Some of these energy sources are turned off during the winter, when demand for electricity generally does not rival that of the summer months, according to Hirs, the energy economist. And freezing temperatures have left many wind turbine farms dormant as operators deal with idle frozen blades.

ERCOT spokeswoman Leslie Sopko asked Texans to follow the agency’s Twitter page and website for updates on network conditions.

Companies that supply wholesale energy to homes and businesses are preparing for emergencies. They are keeping teams stationed across the state over the weekend, when teams would normally return home.

The Texas branch of American Electric Power, called AEP Texas, supplies power to more than 1 million homes and businesses in Texas across southern and western Texas. Larry Jones, a spokesman for the company in Austin, said that continuous blackouts are a last resort designated by ERCOT.

“We would be rotating outages in parts of our service territory,” Jones said on Friday. “This can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour. You can switch them in an effort to minimize the impact on customers. “

If an outage occurs, Jones said, AEP Texas typically tells customers to turn off major electronic devices in their homes, such as washing machines and heating and ventilation units.

“This is going to show people the difference between a cold wave and a cold wave,” said Andrew Barlow, director of external affairs for the Texas Public Utility Commission, an agency that oversees ERCOT, on the approaching climate. “Texans are used to having our normal mild winter climate – a day below freezing, maybe a layer of snow, a little ice. But weather models are showing that this thing can last for two or three days. This takes you from a snap to a spell. “

Correction, February 12, 2021: Due to a Reuters error, an earlier caption for the photo in this story incorrectly reported where the photo was taken. Depicts Corpus Christi, not Robstown.