The most severe scenario considered by ERCOT for this winter — very high demand for power, extensive fossil fuel outages, and low renewable power production — does not capture the amount of power lost during February.
Texas Public Utility Commission
Posted in
Texas 2022 Elections
Analysis: 2022 primary elections in Texas merit a severe weather alert
Next year’s primary elections start a year after a winter storm knocked out power across Texas — and the government response to that disaster could be on voters’ minds.
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Winter Storm 2021
Power companies required to better prepare plants for winter in first phase of rule approved by Texas regulators
The state Public Utility Commission adopted a rule — which experts first recommended a decade ago following a winter storm — requiring power companies to use “best efforts” to ensure plants can operate in the winter.
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Energy
Oil industry helped handpick members of Texas advisory group for electric grid reliability, emails show
Oil and gas industry groups provided a list of names to the Railroad Commission for appointment to a council formed in response to the February power crisis. All four of the industry’s top choices were selected.
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Climate Change in Texas
Texas regulators want to prepare the state’s electricity grid for extreme weather. But that’s a moving target in a warming world.
The state plans to use past weather data to craft rules for power plant upgrades. Scientists warn that the accelerating effects of climate change make relying on old data alone insufficient.
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Energy
Texans not expected to lose power through the rest of the summer, regulators say
The state’s electricity regulators said they’re taking steps to assure a skeptical public that the power won’t go out again if Texas experiences extreme weather this summer.
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Energy
Officials in charge of Texas’ power grid try to reassure lawmakers and the public that they’re fixing lingering problems
Lawmakers cannot pass laws to improve Texas’ power grid during the special legislative session. They’re discussing it anyway.
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Energy
ERCOT will have to release information about power plant outages quicker — but it may not detail what causes them
The Public Utility Commission said the state’s main power grid operator will have three days — instead of 60 — to release some information about power plant outages. But that may not include why the electricity generators were offline.
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Energy
Gov. Greg Abbott says power grid better than ever as Texans asked to cut back electricity use
A number of power plants were inexplicably offline at the same time that Texas was experiencing record June demand for electricity. ERCOT officials are still working to determine why.
Posted in
Winter Storm 2021
Analysis: The Texas electric grid and the improvements that didn’t come
Texas lawmakers passed major bills in response to the winter storm power outages that killed hundreds of Texans in February. But there’s still a lot to do.