Power grid fixes, including winterization, are in place. But Texas still has work to do | Opinion

We are approaching the second anniversary of Winter Storm Uri, which wiped out power and water for millions of Texans and killed 700. It is a good time to assess what has been done since then to prevent another disaster.

There are two aspects of our state power supply to be considered. The first is the effectiveness of our winterization efforts.

Texas has about 1,000 privately owned power plants or power generating units. About 60% of those plants derive energy from fossil fuels, such as natural gas and coal. Renewables, such as wind and solar, account for about 28% of the state’s electricity, and nuclear power produces 10%.

Altogether, this grid can produce and deliver about 80,000 MegWatts (MW) of power at any given moment. The record usage was 74,000 MW in late December 2022. One MW powers about 200 homes.

Since electricity is difficult to store, produced electricity must be used right away, which makes the matching of supply and demand a tricky proposition. If the temperature suddenly drops, we can’t rely on “saved-up” electricity when a power plant shuts down. In those instances, the state’s only option is to rotate power cutoffs.

After the 2021 storm, the state charged the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Railroad Commission with winterizing the state’s power plants. Winterization focuses on protecting power lines, gas lines, and other critical power plant structures so that they don’t freeze and shut down during extreme temperatures and high winds.

Last month, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas — whose job it is to match power supply with varying demand — released a report showing that all but a few power plants met the new winterization standards. In fact, it estimated that the winterization efforts would decrease power plant shutdown by 90%. That’s the good news.

The same report also indicates, though, that since there has been so much population growth in Texas, the power grid might require rolling blackouts if another extreme weather event were to occur. That’s frightening.

The second aspect to consider is how the state agencies have ensured affordable power supply during times of very high demand.

You may recall that during the 2021 winter storm, some retail electric providers were paying thousands of dollars per kilowatt hour of electricity (normally, it’s about 13 cents), and some passed those prices on to consumers.

Responding to those extreme prices, the Legislature charged the Public Utility Commission of Texas with instituting a market protection mechanism. The solution, voted on unanimously by the commissioners last month, is a pay-forward system based on energy credits.

Gov. Greg Abbott and power plant owners approved the plan, too. But it has not yet been instituted, so we don’t know yet how well it will work.

While the state commissions have done a pretty good job of enforcing winterization requirements, they dragged their feet in instituting a plan to ensure affordable supply in times of high demand. There are smart people in the Public Utility Commission who should have approved a workable fix within six months of Uri, and prior to last year’s winter season.

Texas is growing. We added almost 800,000 residents in two years. To keep up with our rising electricity demand and to ensure affordable electricity when we really need it, our power grid — from the wires and windmills to the coal fired plants and poles — must continue to be a focus of expansion and resilience efforts.