Texas electric grid was ‘seconds or minutes’ from collapse: ERCOT

February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 Pehal News Team 0 Comments

AUSTIN — Widespread rolling blackouts ceased Friday in Texas, however days in the past the state was “seconds or minutes” away from the danger of its electric grid catastrophically failing as a record-breaking winter storm barreled throughout the state, in accordance with the highest supervisor of the grid.

Major era models started failing in fast succession as Sunday night time rolled into Monday morning whereas demand skyrocketed, mentioned Bill Magness, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council, in a information briefing Thursday.

The managed outages which have ravaged the state have been the one strategy to avert an much more dire blackout in Texas, Magness mentioned.

“One of the reasons operators have to (shut down parts of the grid) is if they say, ‘You know, let’s wait another minute to see what happens.’ What happens the next minute might be three big units come off, and then you’re sunk.

“If we hadn’t taken motion, it would not have been we might have waited just a few days and see what occurs. It was seconds and minutes, given the quantity of era that was coming off the system on the similar time demand was nonetheless going up.”

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The shutdown left as many as 4 million Texans suffering without electricity for 48 hours or more in some cases, even as temperatures all across the state dipped into single digits and heavy snow and ice shut down highways, forcing the extended closure of grocery stores and other essential businesses.

By Friday, Texas’ grid operators said the electrical system had returned to normal for the first time since the storm. Smaller outages still remained, but Magness said the grid again has enough capacity to provide power throughout the entire grid.

Since the unprecedented Texas outages, which dominated national headlines and network newscasts, ERCOT has been the brunt of criticism from consumers, energy analysts and political leaders from both parties.