Early Monday morning, ERCOT declared an “emergency alert”, also called an EEA 1, as the first of three alarm phases. In this phase, the state wants to get electricity from other networks. The second phase shuts down large industrial users who have agreed in an emergency to reduce power. The third phase is rotary interruptions.
Electricity consumption shattered a previous record set in 2018 on Sunday night as extreme cold weather and frozen rainfall covered the entire state, paralyzed transportation and put most of the state below freezing.
The last time the state had to implement rolling outages was in 2011 when another major storm brought cold, ice and snow to the south of the Rio Grande Valley.
The 2021 storm is set to bring even colder temperatures to the Lone Star State for an extended period of time.
Texas’ Electric Electricity Board chief executive, better known as ERCOT, announced Sunday that the supply of natural gas to power plants was limited, and that half of the system’s wind turbines froze, keeping at least 12k megawatts offline. . ERCOT has an alarm system for grid conditions that is now in ‘conservation warning’ status as consumption rises across the state.
Interruptions usually last between 15 minutes and one hour. According to ERCOT officials, the ongoing eclipses could repeat, until Tuesday morning.
Running suspects are expected across the state. Experts believe it is necessary to turn off power from places such as hospitals, police stations, fire stations, water and wastewater treatment facilities.
ERCOT had to reduce power to at least one million homes in Texas in 2011 during a record-breaking cold moment that year.
The similarities with the two situations are hard to miss: both systems have brought significantly colder temperatures, the roads are impassable with ice and snow, and have led to some power facilities going down due to the cold offline, leaving the state without enough power . In 2011, the state imported power from Mexico, according to the then ABC13 report.
ERCOT officials said lowering heaters to 68 degrees, closing shades to keep the heat inside and turning off non-essential appliances and lights, could save energy during the cold.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned on Saturday that the whole of Texas was facing an unprecedented winter storm and issued a state disaster statement. President Joe Biden has approved a state of emergency for the state of Texas and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts
FROM SATURDAY: Abbott government insists on advocating for power saving and says demand could exceed supply
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