Texas Blackouts Show Vulnerabilities of Electric Grid
“An unusually severe winter storm has left millions in Texas without natural gas and electricity as the state’s grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), implemented rolling blackouts. The severe cold has left electric generators in ERCOT unable to meet base load requirements as a number of natural gas producers shut in production, some pipeline transporters were unable to transport natural gas due to the effects of the severe weather event on pipeline assets, and other thermal and renewable generation assets were unable to operate,” post Steve Spina, Levi McAllister, Kirstin Gibbs, Dan Skees and Patrick Pennella in Morgan Lewis’ Publications.
“ERCOT announced it had set a winter record for power demand: 69,150 megawatts on February 14. However, more than 40,000 megawatts of power generation had been forced off the system due to the severe cold.”
