This week, winter storms and freezing temperatures caused widespread, rolling blackouts throughout Texas, leaving millions of people without power and adequate shelter in dangerously cold weather.
The 2021 Texas blackouts are one of the most dangerous, weather-driven US disasters since… 2020, which included heavy flooding in Houston from tropical storms.
In fact, according to NOAA, 2020 had more billion dollar weather disasters in the first nine months of the year than any other year in the past decade.
As we’ve said before (and expect to keep saying again and again), this is a trend we need to take transformative action to avoid things getting worse. Hopefully 2021 offers some respite, although things aren’t off to a good start in Texas.
If you’re short on time and looking for a quick summary, this video from the Washington Post’s a good starting point.
However, there’s a lot more to the story, and a lot of things the video mentions quickly but doesn’t explain. But hey, that’s why we’re here.
ERCOT = Grid Locked
Unlike the rest of the United States, Texas operates its own grid, ERCOT (short for the unironic Electric Reliability Council of Texas). ERCOT delivers power to about 90% of the state's 26 million customers.
In the 1930’s, then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Federal Power Act and Federal Power Commission to regulate and standardize interstate electricity transfer and sales. “Interstate” is the key word, because Texas (and only Texas) decided to isolate its power market. By not allowing power in or sending any out, Texas bypassed the Federal Power Act and maintained grid independence, which has continued through today.
This, however, comes with several consequences. The first is probably obvious: there’s no way for power to come in from other states or grids to alleviate any load issues or supply gaps. But beyond that, it also means Texas controls its own grid modernization destiny.
Grid or capacity updates for energy storage? Up to Texas. Grid updates to better accommodate renewable energy? Up to Texas. Weatherization investments to deal with inclement weather or unexpected cold? Up to Texas.
And since this is all up to Texas, Texas has an “old-school” grid.
In a traditional power market you have base load (load = power, for simplicity), intermediate load, and peak load. Base load demand is supplied by the power that runs all day: things like nuclear, coal power, or hydroelectric power you can’t just switch on and off. By comparison, peak power often comes from more flexible sources like natural gas, or renewables like solar and wind. Solar’s a particularly good example: the sun shines during the day, so use that energy to power people’s late morning and afternoon electricity use before the sun sets. Whatever’s not used or stored in a battery ends up lost energy.
It’s also helpful to think of peak load in human comfort and safety terms. In hot weather, peak load heavily correlates with air conditioners. In cold weather, it tracks heating.
The problem with old-school grids is they’re old. And in particular, they’re not very flexible. They were designed and built for a different era of energy and weather. And we’re now seeing some of the consequences of that in Texas.
Modern grids are flexible. They respond better to short-term renewable energy fluctuations (i.e., clouds cover your solar panels for a few minutes), and adapt better to supply and demand imbalances by importing and exporting power. We see this a lot in Europe in countries with high renewable energy adoption. Germany, for example, has a lot of solar energy in the south, so on sunny days if there’s an energy surplus, German grid operators might export power to Austria. Texas, as we now know, can’t do import or export due to its self-imposed isolation.
Sustainable Grids = Better Grids
This tragedy also highlights how the energy transformation we need to deal with climate change is also what we need to keep people safe from extreme temperatures. While allies of the fossil fuel industry have tried to spin “freezing wind turbines” as a blackout contributor, the data’s fairly clear Texas’s allegiance to fossil fuels bears most of the blame.
First, Texas only gets ~20% of its total generated power from wind. Even in the unrealistic scenario where all 20% of that power capacity was expected to generate but suddenly went offline (narrator: it didn’t), a responsible (re: flexible) utility anticipates weather patterns and has contingencies. It doesn’t crash the state power grid totally unprepared.
In fact, quite the opposite. What failed Texas this week is the its base load power supply: nuclear, coal, and, in this case, natural gas power systems that weren’t designed to withstand extreme cold.
Second, it’s clear modern grids need flexiblity, and one of the best sources of flexiblity (and resiliency) is energy storage. If your wind turbine produces more energy than you need one day, save that extra energy in a big battery connected to the grid in case your fossil fuels unexpectedly freeze.
There’s of course a lot more to grid modernization than batteries, but the key point is utilities and public utility commissions (PUCs) respond to laws and lawmakers. The US federal government and organizations like the FERC can push utilities and grid operators in 49 states to modernize and invest in storage, energy efficiency, renewables, and infrastructure upgrades, but ERCOT only answers to the Texas legislature.
So far, ERCOT hasn’t publicly indicated when they expect these issues to end, but signs point to at least another week of struggle and cold for many Texans. Our hearts go out to everybody impacted by this.
Texas is also a prime example and a cautionary tale that energy transformation goes well beyond renewable generation: we have to fix, reform, and modernize our grids, utlities, forecasting, contingency, and risk management ecosystem too. Just like food, shelter, and healthcare, power is an essential service - particularly when extreme weather hits.
p.s. If you have anything to give and want to help out we just set up a mutual aid fundraiser for Austin, Texas-area orgs providing warm sleeping bags, blankets, and hot food to people in need. Learn more or take action here.
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