Texans in the Dark

According to former governor Rick Perry, Texans would rather shiver in the dark cold than subject themselves to federal utility regulation. Well, that thesis got a try out this week as Arctic cold slammed the go-it-alone state, disrupting the entire state's exclusive power grid administered by ERCOT. It was so cold in the normally balmy state that it froze wind turbines, which caused the blackouts. That's a joke, dear reader. The polar vortex, made more severe by climate change, {30.01.19} did knock out natural gas and coal power plants, and even a nuclear generating station (South Texas) tripped off line. The surge in demand for power caused by extreme cold was enough to overwhelm the system. ERCOT planned for a load of about 67,000 megawatts with a maximum capacity of 80,000. The shortfall in power is thought to be in the neighborhood of 30,000 megawatts, but the exact amount is unknown due to rolling blackouts that affected the entire state. [photo credit: AP; Austin in snow]

Back to the alleged frozen windmills. Texas has about 20,000 megawatts of installed wind power capacity. Since it is available intermittently, planners concluded that 6,000 megawatts would be available in February, or only 10% of projected ERCOT daily capacity. Only 4,000 megawatts showed up to reap insanely high wholesale prices, enough to payoff a large portions of capital investments in wind farms. WHOHOO!

The wind failed planners by about 2,000 megawatts. A big deal? NOT! What ERCOT got colossally wrong was the availability of their fossil fuel fleet. Fossil fuel generating plants account for 75% of Texas' electrical generating capacity. When the polar vortex hit, the state agency could only cobble together abut 40,000 megawatts from their combustion plants, causing a near total overload that put Texas in the dark. A portion of their gas-fired facilities were off-line for maintenance in the normally quiet winter season. Their coal plants were put out of action by cold freezing fuel stockpiles into unusable, frozen boulders of carbon. Bottom line: ERCOT got wrong-footed by the extreme weather, and people paid the price. The state’s government, controlled by 'small g' politicians, have repeatedly refused to modernize their power system, or to stray from their unwavering deregulation agenda to bring the state’s energy infrastructure up to modern standards.

Part of ERCOT's remit is to plan ahead for the state's energy needs. Climate change causing weird weather is not news anymore. It has been noticeably occurring for at least two decades. Thermal plants can work well in cold climates--just ask Minnesotans. Clearly, Texas' private utilities are not equipped to deal with extreme cold weather. Another truth is that oil and gas rich Texas has a built-in electrical power grid fragility: it depends heavily on natural gas for both heating and electrical generation. In an arctic weather event, the system is easily overloaded as people unaccustomed to frigid temperatures heat their homes and businesses to tropical levels, causing a dearth of fuel to generate electrical power that also distributes natural gas for heating: a definite negative feedback loop.

Correcting this grid fragility would be expensive and discomforting for vested state interests. Instead, the distraction offered by venal politicians like Ted Cruz, who jumps the nearest jet to Cancun to get warm while poor people and his puppy freeze and go hungry, is more "hippie punching"--criticizing progressive initiatives like alternative power in the go-it-alone state.  Texans, ask yourselves this question: are you suffering because you are just lazy?