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A worker tends to a powerline following Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.
Winter Storm Uri brought temperatures below freezing for more than 100 consecutive hours and several inches of snow in many parts of the Texas, including the Brazos Valley, during February 2021.
The extreme winter weather caused major power grid issues across the state, which resulted in statewide blackouts for several days showing Texas’ power grid was not prepared for such cold temperatures.
As the one-year anniversary of the notorious storm approaches, one Texas A&M professor says the state’s power grid should be able to weather a similar winter storm since Texas officials and leaders have made an invested effort to ensure the power grid is better winterized.
“The message to people on the electric grid in Texas is I do think we have a strong electric grid in Texas, but we can always get better and I think what has occurred over the last year has gotten us better,” said Thomas Overbye, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at A&M who also directs the Smart Grid Center. “The grid here is growing because our economy is growing and our population is growing and that’s a good thing. We’re also adding a lot of new renewable generation, primarily wind and solar, and that’s a good thing. It’s also a challenge, but it’s a challenge us engineers like to deal with.”
A survey from the University of Houston found that 69% of Texans lost power at some point during Feb. 14-20, 2021, and 49% had disruptions in their water service. According to the Department of State Health Services, 246 winter storm-related deaths occurred, including one in Brazos County. The DSHS said that 64.2% of the winter storm-related deaths were due to hypothermia.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) took much of the blame for the power outages since the state agency oversees Texas’ power grid and supplies power to approximately 90% of the state’s population. ERCOT officials admitted Texas’ power grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic failure that could have led to uncontrolled, statewide blackouts.
“What happened last year is we had winterized the generators, but we had not winterized them adequately for the extreme temperatures that we got with Uri,” Overbye said.
One reason for Overbye’s optimism moving forward came from a report released by ERCOT on Tuesday that said 321 out of 324 of its electric generation units and transmission facilities fully passed inspection for new winterization regulations from the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
Brad Jones, ERCOT’s interim CEO, said in a release that “the Texas electric grid is more prepared for winter operations than ever before.”
“We are confident these 321 inspected facilities either meet or go beyond the new requirements from the Commission and we will continue to work with the other three facilities to ensure they correct remaining deficiencies,” Woody Rickerson, ERCOT Vice President of System Planning and Weatherization, said in a release. “Our teams spent thousands of hours preparing for and conducting these 324 on-site inspections to ensure the electric grid is prepared for winter.”
While last year’s extreme winter storm was unusual, Overbye said he suspects a similar storm will happen in the future.
“It will occur and it will occur again,” Overbye said, “so we want to make sure our generators are ready for it.”
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Alex Miller is the digital content coordinator and do-it-all reporter for The Eagle. Follow him on Twitter @AlexMill20.
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A worker tends to a powerline following Winter Storm Uri in February 2021.
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