Energy & Science
Texas Grid Problem Exacerbated Power Failures During Blackout
- Dip in electricity flow forced plants offline, generators say
- Grid operator has maintained that dip didn’t affect generators
A worker repairs a power line in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 18.
Photographer: Thomas Ryan Allison/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The power-plant failures that plunged millions of Texans into darkness during a deep winter freeze in February weren’t just caused by frozen equipment and gas-supply issues.
A problem with the power grid itself knocked about 1.26 gigawatts of generation offline at the peak of the crisis, potentially exacerbating the energy woes. About 2% of outages that week were caused by an unexpected dip in frequency -- or the flow of electricity on the grid -- according to a survey of power suppliers released Tuesday by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages most of the state’s power system.