{"id":8030,"date":"2021-06-21T07:34:56","date_gmt":"2021-06-21T12:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/?p=8030"},"modified":"2021-06-25T13:42:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-25T18:42:35","slug":"is-catastrophe-looming-in-the-texas-power-grid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/is-catastrophe-looming-in-the-texas-power-grid\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Catastrophe Looming in the Texas Power Grid?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Shortcuts are haunting Texas residents again as the state’s power manager, ERCOT, warns of electricity outages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Texans preserving electricity in June 2021\/Athens, TX<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Texas power grid was not built in a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, it broke down in one day, February 15, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At 1:25 AM, ERCOT set off rolling power outages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Mouse trap power<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A deep freeze crushed the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The temperature in Dallas dipped to -2\u00b0 F, the coldest it had been in Dallas for 70 years. Snow fell on the beaches on the Gulf Coast at Galveston, south of Houston. Temperatures in Austin remained below freezing for six days at a time of when temperatures usually average in the mid-50s. At Brownsville, near the most southern tip of Texas, February weather typically averages 65\u00b0 F. High temperatures in Brownsville were in the mid-80s just days before the cold. The temperature in the city did not rise above freezing for nearly 48 hours once the cold settled in. For the first time in history all 254 counties in Texas were under a winter storm warning at the same time.”<\/strong> Michael Giberson, Reason Foundation Policy Brief<\/em>, April 2021<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Months later, here we are again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ERCOT issues a conservation warning June 14, 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now we live looking over our shoulder?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone knows a smart builder looks ahead . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n