Early Monday morning, ERCOT declared an “energy emergency alert”, also called EEA 1, as the first of three alert phases. At this stage, the state seeks to obtain electricity from other networks. The second stage stops the large industrial users who have agreed to cut off the power in case of emergency. The third phase is rotary interruptions.
The use of electricity on Sunday night shattered a previous record set in 2018, as extremely cold weather and frozen rainfall covered the entire state, paralyzed transportation and put most of the state under frost.
The last time the state had to implement interruptions was in 2011, when another major storm brought cold, ice and snow all the way south to the Rio Grande Valley.
The storm of 2021 is ready to bring even colder temperatures in the Lone Star state for a longer period of time.
The CEO of Texas Electric Reliability Council in Texas, better known as ERCOT, announced on Sunday that the supply of natural gas to power plants is limited, and half of the system’s wind turbines have frozen, keeping at least 12k megawatts offline. ERCOT has an alert system for the state of the network, which is now in the state of “conservation alert” as consumption increases throughout the country.
Interruptions usually last from 15 minutes to an hour. According to ERCOT officials, the continuous interruptions could be repeated until Tuesday morning.
Continuous disruptions are expected across the state. Experts say they are needed to avoid power outages in places such as hospitals, police stations, fire stations, water and wastewater treatment plants.
ERCOT in 2011 had to cut off electricity to at least one million homes in Texas during a record cold that year.
The similarities with the two situations are hard to miss: both systems brought significantly lower temperatures, left the roads impassable with ice and snow and led to some electrical installations that disconnect due to the cold, leaving the state without enough energy. In 2011, the state imported energy from Mexico, according to ABC13 reports at the time.
ERCOT officials said lowering the heaters to 68 degrees, turning off the shadows to keep warm and turning off appliances and non-essential lights can help conserve energy during the cold.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott warned Saturday that all of Texas is facing an unprecedented winter storm and said he is calling for a federal declaration of disaster before the storm. Abbott has already issued a declaration of state disaster.
SATURDAY: Abbott calls for energy conservation, says demand may exceed supply
ABC13 answers the most important questions about winter weather
Copyright © 2021 KTRK-TV. All rights reserved.