Bob Sechler Austin American-Statesman
AUSTIN, Texas — If you’re wondering what caused the power outages that contributed to dozens of deaths across Texas and billions of dollars in property damage during February’s historic winter freeze, a preliminary report Tuesday sheds a bit of light on it — provided you weren’t already aware it was really, really cold outside.
The top reason cited by operators of power plants that were knocked offline or forced to curtail output during the Feb. 14-19 emergency was “weather related,” according to the report released by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the state’s power grid and is commonly known as ERCOT.
A preliminary report issued by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, says about 54% of power plant outages during the historic February freeze were attributable to the severe weather, because of issues such as frozen equipment or ice accumulation.
The report was compiled from responses that power plant operators submitted to questions from ERCOT, and then grouped into broad categories. ERCOT hasn’t independently verified the reasons for the plant failures.
ERCOT and the Texas Public Utility Commission, which oversees ERCOT, have denied requests from the Austin American-Statesman and other media outlets to release information regarding the reasons that individual power plants suffered service interruptions during the February storms. Instead, both agencies are seeking opinions from the Texas attorney general’s office as to whether they’re required to do so.
At least 111 people, including nine in Travis County and two in Williamson County, died statewide for reasons related to the freeze, according to the latest official figures. Property damage from the power outages has been pegged at nearly $200 billion, while water service to more than 12 million people across the state also was disrupted because pipes froze and burst.
According to ERCOT’s aggregate preliminary report released Tuesday, 54% of generation capacity knocked offline at the height of the storm — or 27,472 megawatts out of 51,173 — is attributable to “weather related” causes, such as frozen equipment or ice accumulation. Another 14% is attributable to “equipment issues,” meaning “failures or malfunctions not explicitly attributed to cold weather.”
One megawatt of electricity is roughly enough to power 200 homes during periods of peak demand.
Limitations on the ability to obtain enough fuel to operate plants during the storms contributed to 12% of the outages, while about 15% was attributed to generation units that were already out of service for various reasons before the emergency started. Reasons cited for the remaining 5% of the outages included “transmission loss,” “frequency related” and “miscellaneous.”
While the broad categories are vague, the report nonetheless lends some credence to views that more should have been done in the wake of a similar but less severe storm in 2011 to mandate winterization of power plants on the ERCOT grid, which currently has no enforceable minimum winterization standard.
Investigations in the aftermath of the 2011 freeze pegged inadequate winterization as the overarching culprit for outages that year, with a report released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concluding that generators were “generally reactive as opposed to being proactive in their approach to winterization and preparedness” for winter conditions.
Frozen instrumentation and equipment were “the single largest problem during the (2011) cold weather event,” according to the report.
State lawmakers, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have called beefing up oversight of the state’s electricity grid a priority in the wake of this year’s devastating freeze.
A bill that would overhaul the Texas power market and grid — and authorize fines of up to $1 million per day for electricity and natural gas companies that don’t winterize appropriately — already has won approval of the full state Senate and is pending in the House.
