A worker repairs a power line in Austin, Texas, USA, on Wednesday, February 18, 2021.
Thomas Ryan Allison | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The Texas Electric Reliability Council, known as ERCOT and which controls most of the state’s power, said it intends to exit emergency on Friday as power was returned to millions of customers who remained in the dark.
However, the effects of the deadly storm are still being felt in Texas.
ERCOT said the retention of power was “still critical”. Nearly 200,000 customers in the state still do not have electricity, according to the latest data from PowerOutage.us. Public service officials say limited outages are still possible if electricity demand increases.
At one point on Tuesday, more than four million customers were without electricity.
While the heat could return, parts of the state’s water supply could now be at risk after the water pressure dropped, leading to potential contamination.
Alison Silverstein, an independent energy consultant and former strategic adviser to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said 20 million or more Texans could be forced to boil water.
ERCOT officials said in a virtual press conference on Thursday that the network was “seconds and minutes away” from a much more serious disaster, given the pace at which the generation was leaving the system. KXAN of Austin first reported the comments. If it hadn’t cut off the power when it did, the entire network would have failed, according to Silverstein.
Winter conditions have affected energy production from natural gas, coal, renewables and other sources, just as consumers have turned their thermostats to a cold temperature. The network could not meet the dynamics of supply and demand.
Natural gas production in Texas has dropped by about 30%, making it difficult for power companies to find the gas they need to run their power plants. According to estimates, up to four million barrels per day of crude oil production have been taken offline.
Energy prices initially rose behind production shutdowns, but on Thursday they took a break from breathing, with West Texas Intermediate’s crude future and natural gas.
WTI declines continued on Friday, with the contract trading below $ 60 a barrel. Earlier in the week, the WTI violated $ 60 for the first time since January 2020.
Henry Hub natural gas futures gained 1.95% to trade at $ 3,137 per million British thermal units on Friday. For the week, natural gas increased by more than 7%.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has called for an investigation into ERCOT.
“The Texas Electrical Reliability Council has been anything but reliable for the past 48 hours,” he said in a statement Tuesday. “Too many Texans are without energy and heat for their homes because our state is facing freezing temperatures and severe winter weather. This is unacceptable.”
Looking ahead, experts say control equipment needs to be wintered could be among the measures taken to avoid future disasters.
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