Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called it “anything but reliable,” and ordered that the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) investigation be conducted amid nationwide eclipses in icy temperatures.
“Far too many Texans are without power and heat for their homes because our state is facing icy temperatures and severe winter weather. This is unacceptable,” Abbott wrote in a statement.
“I have issued an executive order to review the preparations and decisions by ERCOT so that we can determine what caused this problem and find long-term solutions.”
ERCOT is facing management of the state’s power grid after 4.1 million people were left without power amid record snow and sub-zero temperatures. Some were out of power for more than 24 hours after generators went offline Monday. The outages also shut down water treatment plants, and hundreds of thousands were ordered to boil water before using it.
TEXAS HIT MORE THAN 4 MILLION REMAINS IN THE DARK WITH MASSIVE POWER EXPERTS AS WINTER FREEZER
The rare Arctic air blowing in Texas led to a record-breaking demand for power, which caused the state’s electrical system to fail. Energy suppliers intended to use interruptions to deal with demand, but the system was overwhelmed.
The expectation that the breaks would be shared equally by the state’s 30 million residents for 10-15 minutes at a time quickly gave way to a cold reality, as pockets in some of America’s largest cities, including San Antonio, Dallas and Austin, left is a catastrophic power outage and would occur in sub-freezing conditions known to Texas network operators.
ERCOT on Monday night ordered utilities such as Oncor to turn off more power instead of the expected repairs.
Oncor issued a statement saying it could not turn through the disruptions Monday night, due to ‘bad net conditions’, and warned residents to prepare for ‘long periods without power’.
“At present, ERCOT is unable to predict when network conditions will stabilize, and urges all customers to be prepared for extended outages to continue,” the publication continued.
“We had to step in and make sure we were not going to end up in a eclipse with Texas, which could remain without people without power – not just people without power, but everyone in our region without power – for much, much longer than that. we believe this event is going to last, as long and as difficult as this event is currently, ‘said ERCOT CEO Bill Magness.
At least ten deaths have been reported in light of the storm and the consequent disappearance. More icy weather is expected to hit the state Wednesday, and some areas will have more snow.
WINTER WEATHER TOL RISES TO US AS TORNADO SLAM NORTH CAROLINA
State Representative Gene Wu said ERCOT told lawmakers he knew last week that controlled interruptions would be necessary, but ERCOT only let the public know on Sunday.
Magness agrees with the need for a “significant review” of the eclipses.
“What we saw this week is an unprecedented historical version,” Magness said. “There will and should be a significant overview of this event.”
Thirty-five hot shelters have been opened to accommodate more than 1,000 people across the state, FEMA said during an information session. But even they were not spared the interruptions, as Houston had to close two on Monday due to a loss of power.