This is Texas.
One of the largest states in America.
The 28 million people that live, and work in Texas all rely on the state’s infrastructure
network.
But Most of this infrastructure is old and unreliable, causing its residents to face
problems everyday.
But The most immediate problem is its power supply infrastructure.
The Texas electrical grid is old and outdated, and has been unable to meet the demands of
the growing population and economy.
This has led to widespread blackouts, most notably in february of 2021 when more than
4 million residents lost electricity.
But more than a year after this catastrophic event occurred, The Texas power grid has still
not been fixed.
But all of this raises the question.
Why does Texas have failing power supply infrastructure, and what's preventing the state from solving
the problem.
To answer this, we first need to understand what caused the power grid to fail.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) is the electric grid operator for
most of the state.
In February of 2021, a rare and prolonged winter weather event in Texas caused widespread
power outages and disruptions to the electric grid.
More than 4 million customers were without power at the peak of the crisis leaving millions
in the cold temperatures.
Officials have determined The outages were caused by a combination of factors, including
freezing temperatures, high demand for electricity, and limited generation from natural gas, wind,
and solar power plants.
But the real cause of the power crisis is more complex than many would first believe
and there are many reasons behind this.
For one, Texas runs on its own power grid, separate from the rest of the United States.
While the majority of the states in America are split between 2 separate electricity grids,
The Texas power grid is separate because it is its own entity.
The grid is not connected to the two other major U.S. grids, which are managed by the
Eastern Interconnection and the Western Interconnection.
The state's independent grid was established in the 1970s after a severe statewide power
crisis.
As a result of this event, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was created with an
intent to regulate the interstate transmission of electricity, natural gas, and oil.
While this was a federal agency, Texas chose to create their own power state agency, referred
to as the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
The Texas Legislature also created ERCOT which stands for the electric reliability council
of texas to address the concerns that led to the nationwide power outages in the 1970’s
and improve the state’s electricity infrastructure.
Today, ERCOT manages the flow of electric power to more than 24 million Texas customers
- representing about 90 percent of the state's electric load.
Being on its own power separate grid, Texas has a large capacity for generating electricity.
More than 85 percent of the state's power comes from natural gas, coal, and nuclear
power.
Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power only make up a small percentage.
Since the state is on a separate power grid, it is not subject to mandatory federal energy
regulations which is why it has not joined back to the West Interconnection Grid.
Additionally, Texas has its own unique set of challenges when it comes to power generation
and delivery, which require different approaches and solutions than those used in other parts
of the country.
For example, Texas has higher peak demand periods due to hot summer weather, which can
lead to higher electricity prices during those times.
While the state has had strong advantages by possessing its own power grid, the disadvantages
of the statewide system led to severe disadvantages during the power crisis in February of 2021.
During this period, it was difficult to get assistance from other states since the power
grids are not interconnected.
This was one of the main problems which caused the outage to be prolonged for such a long
time period.
This is because the grid does not have any direct connection to other power grids in
the United States, meaning that power cannot flow from one grid to another.
This isolation is intentional, as it prevents disruptions in one part of the grid from affecting
the entire system.
ERCOT itself cannot manage or transfer electricity to any other power distribution network or
organization.
The only connection the Texas grid has is to the eastern power grid and the power grid
in Mexico.
In other words, Texas and its power grid is completely isolated from the rest of the United
States which turned out to be a cayatpohic problem when the state’s grid had failed
to distribute power.
But more than a year later, the Texas power grid has still not been fixed, raising many
questions as to how an event like this can be prevented in the future.
There are many complex reasons why the Texas power grid has not been fixed and who is responsible
for maintaining the power grid.
We have to keep in mind that The Texas power grid is one of the largest and most complex
electric grids in the world, and slight changes can result in big changes for the entire state.
The primary reasoning behind the grid not being fixed is because the Electric Reliability
Council of Texas (has not made any significant changes to its grid operations since the statewide
blackout in February 2011.
In fact, ERCOT has only made minor modifications to its procedures since this event that occurred
more than 10 years ago.
Because of this, the company has faced public backlash as to why they had not addressed
these problems in the past.
The agency has also been slow to adopt new technologies and has not made the necessary
changes to its grid design after multiple power outage events since the formation of
the company in the 1970’s.
As a result, the Texas power grid remains vulnerable to extreme weather events since
none of the recommended changes have been put in place.
We also have to note that ERCOT is a non-profit organization that is overseen by the Texas
Legislature.
This means that the company is not subject to the same level of scrutiny as for-profit
utility companies that run the rest of the power distribution across the United States.
But Besides ERCOT, the Texas Legislature did pass multiple different bills setting new
standards for the texas grid.
One of the most notable being new weatherization standards mainly towards electricity plants
to prevent severe damage in severe weather events.
State lawmakers also approved a plan for power and gas companies to raise rates in the state
to help pay for the repairs that need to be done to the plants.
Although this bill would help solve some of the grid's problems, the high cost to taxpayers
may not be well accepted throughout the state.
According to estimates, the grid is in need of billions of dollars in repairs, which will
not be easy to achieve without raising the cost of electricity in the state.
Besides the bills that were passed, many state officials have also blamed the physical design
of these p[ower plants for the blackouts they caused in the past few decades.
Some experts have suggested that the grid may need to be completely rebuilt.
The problem with this plan is that it would be a costly and time-consuming process.
There is also not a clear way to rebuild the grid without overburdening ratepayers with
the coasts of the changes.
Given all of these factors, it is understandable why the Texas power grid has not been fixed.
However, it is still unclear how long it will be until a solution to the problem can be
found.
Today, The Texas power grid has still not seen any significant changes made since the
events that unfolded more than a year ago.
The state has not been able to invest in new power plants or make significant upgrades
to the grid, while the population and the economy continue to grow at the same time.
This has led to higher demand for electricity, and higher prices.
The state continues to rely on old, inefficient power plants with nothing planned ahead to
solve the problem.
In the wake of the power crisis, a number of investigations have been launched in order
to determine what went wrong and how to prevent such a situation from happening again.
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