How one Texas storm exposed an energy grid unprepared for climate change

NBC News / Comcast ^ | February 17, 2021 | By Josh Lederman

[Oldeconomybuyer]

WASHINGTON — A devastating winter storm that has plunged Texas into an electricity crisis offers warning signs for the U.S. as the Biden administration seeks to prepare for a future in which extreme weather is a greater risk and America is almost entirely powered by renewable energy.

Energy generation is one challenge. But an equally daunting task centers on storing power from renewable energy for extreme events like the one hammering Texas.

Wind and solar, still fairly small slices of the state's energy mix, played only a minimal role in the sudden power shortage, utility officials said — contrary to a wave of conservative critics who tried to falsely pin blame for the situation on renewable energy.

Still, the Texas crisis is a wake-up call that exposes how the U.S. electric infrastructure may not be fully prepared to absorb steep climate-related spikes in demand for power. The challenge is likely to grow deeper as the U.S. relies more on wind and solar power.

Electric grid regulators said the U.S. will have to develop vast supplies of power storage — such as gigantic batteries — that rely on emerging technologies that have only recently started becoming economical and feasible on a large scale.

The picture of what went wrong in Texas is incomplete. But while some wind generators did go offline as turbines iced over, the state's largest grid said the shortage was driven by a failure not of renewable sources but of traditional "thermal" sources: coal, nuclear and especially natural gas.

Although no single weather event can be attributed solely to climate change, the deadly cold that slammed Texas was the latest reminder of how weather extremes can push the delicate web of power generators and transmission lines that make up our electric grid past its breaking point.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Wind and solar my arse.....nothing but a ponzi scheme where the connected friends of corrupt politicians make millions and soak the tax payers!!!

Meanwhile they claim to create "better" jobs for US workers installing solar panels made in China, and we go back to the Jimmy Carter years, at the mercy of Iran and Russia because we are not producing fossil energy. And, oh yeah, energy prices go up.

[Daffynition]

[Chode]

[CottonBall]

“Electric grid regulators said the U.S. will have to develop vast supplies of power storage — such as gigantic batteries — that rely on emerging technologies that have only recently started becoming economical and feasible on a large scale.”

That’s a great green idea. So then you have to have huge landfills to handle them.

[_Jim]

re: “How one Texas storm exposed an energy grid unprepared for climate change”

Idiots.

THIS was a cold weather event redux, first performed in 1989, repeated in 2011 and again here in 2021. Temps this time matched those in 1989, before Texas went with a de-regulated electric market. Temps in 2011 only dipped into the teens instead of the single digits as in 1989 and 2021.

“Report on Outages and Curtailments During the Southwest Cold Weather Event of February 1-5, 2011”
2-01-2011 Feb 2 2011 ERCOT blackouts

https://www.balch.com/files/upload/NERC_8_16_2011_SW_Cold_Weather_Event_Final_Report.pdf

Doc also contains:

“Impact of Cold Weather on Gas Production in the Texas
and New Mexico Gas Production Regions of the United
States During early February, 2011”

“Winterization Document”
Prepared for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Prepared by Gas Technology Institute
by Kent F. Perry

An excerpt from pg 188:

---

Texas has recently enacted legislation to deal with the problem of inadequate winterization by generators. A bill was introduced in the Texas legislature following the February 2011 blackouts, with provisions directing the PUCT to prepare a weather emergency preparedness report, to review the emergency operations plans on file, and to recommend improvements to the plans to ensure electric service reliability. In introducing the bill, State Senator Glenn Hegar stated: “What I don’t want, is another storm and another report someone puts on the shelf for 21 years and nobody looks at.”

After a Senate Committee hearing, the bill was amended and unanimously adopted by the Texas Senate. The House unanimously passed the bill on May 23, and the bill was signed into law by Governor Richard Perry on June 17, 2011.

---

“February Power Blackouts Across Texas echoed 1989 Failures”
By Eric Dexheimer
Austin American-Statesman, Apr. 10, 2011
Posted Apr 11, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Dec 12, 2018 at 10:13 AM
https://www.statesman.com/article/20110411/NEWS/304119704

[ealgeone]

CA dealt with rolling blackouts all last summer.

Currently 14 states are dealing with blackouts due to this storm. It isn't just Texas.

[HKMk23]

Be interesting to learn how much of the NG silly problem was driven by loss of wind-generated electrical power.

“Pump failure” sounds especially likely as those pumps have electric motors.

Would it not be a supreme irony to discover that the failure of wind power, cascaded to cripple natural gas generating capacity also?

[HKMk23]

How “Climate Change” Created an Entire Grid Unprepared For One Texas Storm

[Gritty]

This is great news. Green New Deal politicians are getting into the act.

They will fix it for sure and it shouldn't cost more than a trillion Dollars or two. Or maybe three.