/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/dmn/EBTQIY55L5SNH2PDRT65M234YY.jpg)
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Texas’ power grid operators can’t predict when outages might end, Electric Reliability Council of Texas officials said Tuesday.
More than 4 million Texans, many of them in North Texas, are enduring extended outages as icy conditions have settled in across the region.
ERCOT, the agency that oversees the state’s power grid, is trying to avoid a total blackout by instructing utility companies, including Oncor Electric Delivery, to cut power to customers.
“We needed to step in and make sure that we were not going to end up with Texas in a blackout, which could keep folks without power — not just some people without power but everyone in our region without power — for much, much longer than we believe this event is going to last, as long and as difficult as this event is right now,” ERCOT CEO Bill Magness said.
When reporters pressed for a timeline, he and Senior Director of System Operations Dan Woodfin could not say how much longer the outages would last. An uncontrolled blackout could leave Texans without power for “an indeterminate amount of time,” maybe a month, Magness said.
The officials also described the challenge of keeping power restored throughout peak-demand hours, including the morning and nighttime.
Throughout the day, ERCOT and Gov. Greg Abbott announced power was being restored to hundreds of thousands of customers, but the gains aren’t always maintained.
“At the same time we’ve been adding supply to the grid from certain generators, we’ve also been losing other generators,” Woodfin said. “So we haven’t been able to add as much back during the course of the day that we would like and what we have added back, we’re hoping to keep online. But if additional generation doesn’t become available as the day goes on, we may actually have to take some of it back offline to maintain that power and supply balance.”
Controlled outages should have been rotated throughout areas for 15 to 45 minutes, but they have been drastically extended for thousands of people, even as others haven’t experienced any outages.
Oncor officials have not answered questions about how they choose which parts of the city they cut power to and which they don’t, except to say they try to avoid critical infrastructure such as hospitals.
Oncor officials said they tried to trade power among neighborhoods but were unsuccessful because of the grid’s weakening stability, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a call Monday with Oncor spokeswoman Kerri Dunn.
“We recognize the hardships and extreme frustration customers without power face during these historical low temperatures and are ready to deliver power as soon as electric generators are able to provide it,” Oncor said Tuesday on Twitter. “As soon as enough generation is available, we will return to a regular cadence of rotating outages with the goal of providing any temporary relief that we can for those who have been without power the longest.”
An Oncor representative would only refer to a news release that did not answer questions about how neighborhoods were chosen for outages.
Gov. Greg Abbott called on legislators, who are now in session, to investigate ERCOT and its handling of the storm.
“The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has been anything but reliable over the past 48 hours,” he said.
“Reviewing the preparations and decisions by ERCOT is an emergency item so we can get a full picture of what caused this problem and find long-term solutions,” Abbott said. “I thank my partners in the House and Senate for acting quickly on this challenge, and I will work with them to enhance Texas’ electric grid and ensure that our state never experiences power outages like this again.”
ERCOT officials did not provide state legislators with a specific estimate for when outages might end.
“After being pushed by lawmakers, ERCOT would say only that it could be ‘days’ before power is restored for all customers,” State Rep. Rafael Anchía (D-Dallas) posted on Twitter. “In an email to members ERCOT said, ‘Even if there is good progress, returning to normal conditions is going to take additional time.’ ”
State Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) wrote on Twitter that ERCOT told lawmakers that it knew last week that controlled outages would be needed but that it did not communicate that to the public until Sunday.
“They apologize for not letting the public know that this was what was going to happen,” Wu said.
The only regulation on blackouts is about first responders and critical infrastructure.
(Downtown and hospital districts are critical I would guess)
They apologize for not letting the public know that this was what was going to happen. They knew this was coming last week. (?)
— Gene Wu (@GeneforTexas) February 16, 2021
During a call with reporters Tuesday, Magness and Woodfin did not say they knew outages would be needed last week, but they did say they saw the storm coming and were prepared for weather similar in severity to what Texas faced in 2011 and 2018. But they realized Sunday that conditions this week would be much worse than other storms inflicted.
“What we saw this week is a historic unprecedented weather event,” Magness said. “... There will and there should be a significant review of this event.”
A big winter storm in 2011 also knocked power generators offline and prompted rolling blackouts in the state. Lawmakers conducted hearings and demanded changes to prevent similar problems.
Glenn Hegar, a Republican state senator at the time, authored authored a bill — which became law — that requires the state to track and report how well prepared the state’s electric grid is for extreme weather.
“When I passed this legislation, it was intended to identify the mistakes made in 2011 and ensure that our power grid, including our generation capacity, was prepared for winter weather emergencies,” Hegar, who is now state comptroller, said in a written statement. “While the issues that are plaguing our electric grid system in this disastrous winter storm are complex, I am extremely frustrated that 10 years later our electric grid remains so ill-equipped for these weather events.”
He said the first priority is restoring power to all Texans. After that, he said, “we must address why, after 10 years have passed, are we in a worse position today than in 2011. Why are certain areas going without power for two days or longer, while other areas have successfully navigated through rolling blackouts, or never experience power outages at all? The most pressing question is what can Texas do in the 21st century to ensure that our grid doesn’t experience these issues again?”
The state is also required to review plans that power generators submit on how they’ll withstand extreme heat or cold. But those plans are voluntary, not required. ERCOT reviews about 100 of those plans each year, Woodfin said Tuesday. Usually the reviews are in person, but they weren’t this past year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"news" - Google News
February 17, 2021 at 06:26AM
https://ift.tt/3u430hX
ERCOT officials say they have no idea when Texas’ power outages will end - The Dallas Morning News
"news" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2DACPId
https://ift.tt/2Wh3f9n
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "ERCOT officials say they have no idea when Texas’ power outages will end - The Dallas Morning News"
Post a Comment