Texas avoiding a major power crisis as frigid conditions take hold
“We’re all suffering a bit from the trauma of 2021,” one expert told AccuWeather as lows will dip into the single digits with RealFeel Temperatures plunging well below zero for some.
After the icy blackouts of 2021, many Texans are understandably worried with a massive wave of cold air on the way. We spoke with an expert on the status of the power grid, and you should prepare.
Millions of Texas residents have been concerned about the blast of Arctic air this weekend in the wake of the deadly and costly events of February 2021, when the state's power grid failed and left many fighting for their lives in frigid conditions. However, as frigid air has overspread much of the country, Texas's grid appears to have held it's own this time around.
The Lone Star State has not been immune to the deep freeze swallowing the majority of the United States in the lead-up to the Christmas holiday. In the northern Texas hub of Dallas, a hard freeze warning went into effect at 6 p.m. local time Thursday evening, with temperatures dropping into the single digits F.
The AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature for the city dropped lower than 10 degrees Fahrenheit below zero Friday morning, with winds gusting over 40 mph. Pockets of stronger wind may have developed as well, as high as 70 or 80 mph.
Frigid conditions this week will remind many Texans of a February 2021 event that took over 50 lives and cost the state over $100 billion in economic damages. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Other major Texas cities have felt the frigid conditions as well, including Houston with a low of 14 and a subzero RealFeel® on Friday morning.
The bitter cold once again challenged the beleaguered Texas power grid, triggering memories of the 2021 storm that claimed at least 58 lives, with many deaths coming as a result of hypothermia and carbon monoxide poisoning, as well as slip-and-fall incidents related to the frozen conditions. AccuWeather estimates state that Texas suffered $130 billion in economic damages as a result of the storm that led to widespread blackouts across the state.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Jon Porter noted that this freeze would be the "biggest test" of the power grid since the February 2021 event.
"The extreme cold, even for a shorter time period, is expected to once again be a test of resiliency of the Texas electrical grid, given expected surges in energy demand as people heat their homes and businesses," Porter said. The largest difference between the 2021 storm and this week's freeze will be the lack of snow and ice during the upcoming cold spell.
In Austin on Wednesday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott noted that residents will be in constant communication with officials from the state's Public Utilities Commission, as well as heads from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), the organization responsible for the vast majority of the state's electrical power supply.
FILE - This Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021, file photo shows power lines in Houston. In a letter, Tuesday, July 6, 2021, one month after declaring the state's electric power grid fixed, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is demanding aggressive action from state utility regulators to shore up that grid. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
"With the ultra-cold temperature for several days, there are many people in the state of Texas that are worried about or may be concerned about the power grid," Abbott said at a press conference. "We want to make sure that everybody across the entire state of Texas hears directly from the head of the Public Utilities Commission, as well as the head of ERCOT, to know exactly the way that both the PUC and ERCOT are prepared to make sure that the power grid will remain up and running very robustly during this very cold snap."
In an AccuWeather television interview, University of Houston Energy Fellow and energy economist Ed Hirs noted that "everybody in the state" is concerned with the impacts the freeze may bring.
Snow and ice are cleared from the tarmac at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. Frigid conditions will return to Texas this week, with many residents hoping to avoid a repeat of a costly power grid failure. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
"We're all suffering a bit from the trauma of 2021," Hirs said. "It's been 22 months post the freeze, but it takes more than two years to repair a grid that's had underinvestment for more than a dozen years."
Hirs did point to a number of measures taken since the February 2021 event that may assist in holding up the grid this week, such as weatherization (better insulation protection) now required for power plants, but that residents "won't know that (the grid) is working until it's actually working." He pointed out that Texans should keep their thermostat down to 68 degrees to avoid grid overload and subsequent blackouts and to keep drinking water on hand at all times.
"It's not just that you may lose power, but suppose the water plant does ... this type of thinking is necessary to prepare for the storm," Hirs noted.
As of early Saturday morning, the electricity demand within the state had not reached capacity, a sign of good news in terms of avoiding the deadly failures of 2022. While some power outages were reported, these were almost entirely due to tree and power line damage, rather than issues with the grid itself.
High temperatures in the 20s and 30s Fahrenheit are expected in much of the state for the next several days, keeping energy demands high. However, with the worst of the cold soon departing, it appears that the state has avoided a repeat of the deadly 2021 storm.
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