Failing power plants, rolling blackouts and a spike in demand as Texas is hijacked by a harsh February winter snowstorm this was the scenario exactly a decade ago as blackouts rolled through Texas.
A post-mortem at the time including a key finding that state officials recommended but did not mandate winter protections for generating facilities has renewed relevance as Texas is roiled by a record storm that has left millions without power for at least three days amid plunging temperatures.
Those 2011 findings, as well as reports from the state grid operators that generators and natural gas pipelines froze during the current calamity and American-Statesman interviews with current and former utility executives and energy experts, suggest a light regulatory touch and cavalier operator approach involving winter protections of key industrial assets.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) manages the flow of electric power on the Texas Interconnection that supplies power to more than 25 million Texas customers – representing 90.