Winter Storm Uri - Texas Fails Residents Again

Texas is the second largest state in the US with an approximate population of 28 Million residents and counting. Needless to say, Texas has encountered multiple natural disasters with the Tax Day Flood, Hurricane Harvey, and now the winter storm that has impacted us all this week. The main question that all of us Texans have is how did this happen and why didn’t the government prepare ahead of time?

The unusual fact about all of this is the realization that Texas has its own power grid operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). The U.S. has three power grids; one that covers the eastern U.S., another that covers the western states and then Texas. If you are like myself, that does not make sense for one state to have their own power grid especially with natural disasters such as this one.

A brief detail on the electric capacity is explained below:

Texas has a generating capacity of about 67,000 megawatts in the winter compared with a peak capacity of about 86,000 megawatts in the summer. The gap between the winter and summer supply reflects power plants going offline for maintenance during months when demand typically is less intense and there’s not much energy coming from wind and solar sources. It is projected that 80% of the grid’s winter capacity is generated by natural gas, coal, and some nuclear power. Wind turbines aren’t the main culprit as they only incur about a fraction of the power generation. With the case of the winter storm, it is noted that the demand for residents exhausted the capacity ahead of the winter storm resulting in the power outage for the state.

So how could this have been prevented?

The ERCOT has experienced a similar issue back in 2011 when the power supply was out for approximately 2 days and effected most of Texas. As a lesson learned, ERCOT could have spent the next few years focused on weatherizing all power plants and improving efficiency in residential areas that would require less energy to heat homes. This would have helped to diversify the options we have for energy including batteries, microgrids, and storage that make it easier for residents to be prepared for conditions like this week.

Why did Governor Abbot fail us again?

We all know Gov. Greg Abbot is useless at his position. With his handling of COVID-19 and now the winter storm, it is evident that he needs to be removed from office expeditiously. His lack of providing details on when residents can expect their situations to improve is a clear indication that he cares less about the people. His response to yesterday’s press conference stating that “This is a once-in-every 120 year cold front that we have to respond to” is literally a dull statement with no indication of a solution for residents who continue to suffer. Texas and the U.S. as a whole have experienced unusual natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina so there is no reason for someone of power to give a baseless response to the conditions of Texas. Preparation is key and it shows time and time again that Texas and its officials are never prepared. Not to mention that the downtown areas were lit up most of the days when that power could have been conserved for residential areas.

Regardless of the issues at hand, it is important for us as a community to stick together and help each other out. These are testing times for all of us but we have to continue to stay positive through it all.

If you are still having power and water issues please review the link below for local organizations that are providing warming shelters and resources:

https://www.texastribune.org/2021/02/16/texas-power-outage-help-warming-shelter/

If you have any clothes and food that you are able to give away please check with local Salvation Army centers in the area.

We are all in this together. I am praying for everybody’s safety and well-being through this all.