ERCOT grid weathers winter storm, energy expert praises federal prep order
Monday's sunshine proved to be a welcome sight, not just for those who are tired of the snow, sleet, and ice, but for ERCOT's power grid as well.
Energy experts say the sun boosts the power generation available to the grid and also acts as insurance if any natural gas-fired power plants go down.
Bruce Bullock, the director of the Maguire Energy Institute at SMU, said so far, the grid has held up.
"To date, it performed very well," said Bullock. "We've been watching it, really, from the time they started to prepare for the cold snap, through this morning."
Bullock said it helped that schools and many businesses didn't open on Monday, which lowered demand for power.
On Monday, ERCOT told CBS News Texas that it's not anticipating any reliability issues on its statewide grid.
To keep it that way, the U.S. Department of Energy issued an emergency order to ERCOT on Sunday that will stay in place through 11:59 pm Tuesday. It authorizes ERCOT to use back-up power generated by data centers, industrial facilities, and other commercial facilities --- only if necessary.
On Saturday, ERCOT sent a letter to the Department of Energy requesting an emergency order saying it "...Will help ERCOT avoid or mitigate the need to declare an EEA level 3 (energy emergency alert), which would require firm load-shedding..."
Under that scenario, the grid operator intentionally implements power outages until the supply of energy catches up with demand. Bullock said this gave ERCOT another tool to prepare. "It was preparation, a good proactive move, both on the part of the Department of Energy as well as ERCOT. If it came to a critical point on the grid, then ERCOT now has access to that backup power where it is needed."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday the grid passed the latest test.
During an unrelated news conference in Mansfield last week, he told reporters the state has done a lot to prevent a repeat of the deadly power outages five years ago.
"The power grid is stronger than it's ever been," said Abbott. "Since the winter storm Uri, we've added more than 60,000 new megawatts of power. We've added winterization; we've added changes in the way that ERCOT works. We've added strength to the entire system, whether it be through the power lines or where the natural gas is coming out of the ground to make sure there will be no stoppage of natural gas that gets where it needs to be to keep the power on."
When asked if he was confident there is enough reliable power generation throughout this storm, the governor responded, "I'm very confident that there's not going to be a challenge to the power grid."
He said there would still be local power outages when ice downs trees and power poles that extend electricity to homes. But that's not related to the grid itself.