Texas power outage: more people can lose electricity, heat

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More power outages are expected, as Texans continue to struggle to find warmth and safety

Texas residents said the storm – and the partial collapse of the state’s energy system thereafter – undermined the mental reserves that remained after eleven months of a global health crisis that cost thousands of jobs and claimed more than 40,000 lives in the state.

“Going through all of this and also having things like this happening, it’s like, ‘Another historic event, and I’m going to develop PTSD,’” said Brianna Blake, 31, a mother of two. “I can’t do this.”

Officials at the state power grid operator said it was still struggling to balance the supply and demand for the Texas power grid – and could not project when the long-term outages would end.

Meanwhile, Oncor, the state’s largest electricity supplier, tweeted As of Tuesday night, the state grid operator had directed further reductions in the electrical load, and residents should “be prepared for further outages”. Austin Energy issued a similar warning to its customers in central Texas and said that customers who have been without power for a long time can continue to be affected.

Energy experts, local leaders and residents said that state and energy officials have not adequately prepared people for the massive outages that coincide with the dangerous climate that has already caused at least 10 deaths. – Texas Tribune Team

The grid operator underestimated peak demand during an extreme winter event

Texas relies heavily on natural gas – especially in times of high demand – to supply the state. Experts say the natural gas infrastructure, from pumping the soil to power plants in city centers, was unprepared for the high temperatures caused by the winter storm.

More than half of the winter generation capacity of the Texas Electric Reliability Council, largely powered by natural gas, was shut down due to the winter storm, about 45 gigawatts, according to Dan Woodfin, senior director at ERCOT.

The interruptions during the storm far exceeded what ERCOT had predicted in November for an extreme winter event. The forecast for peak demand was 67 gigawatts; peak usage during the storm was over 69 gigawatts on Sunday. – Erin Douglas

Frozen wind turbines are not the main culprit for power cuts in Texas

Frozen wind turbines in Texas have caused some conservative politicians to declare that the state is too dependent on renewable energy. But in reality, lost wind energy represents only a fraction of the reduction in power generation capacity that has caused disruptions for millions of Texans.

According to some estimates, almost half of the state’s natural gas production has been halted due to extremely low temperatures, while the freezing of components in plants powered by natural gas has forced some operators to close. – Erin Douglas and Ross Ramsey

Disclosure: Oncor has financially supported The Texas Tribune, a non-profit and non-partisan news organization that is financed in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune‘journalism n. Find a complete list of them here.