Page 35 - Western Interconnection News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Editor’s note: With millions of customers out of power as Texas grapples with record-low temperatures, interest has been high in the agency that oversees...

  Share Source: Jeff Schrier/The Saginaw News via AP Texas is in trouble. A brutal winter storm rolled in over Presidents Day weekend, knocked out power for millions of residents, and the temperatures have dipped to extreme levels. People have died from carbon monoxide poisoning because they’re running cars for warmth. One family had emergency services arrive after they used a charcoal grill to heat their home. It’s a situation that should never happen in the United States. How could Texas’ grid shut down after a winter storm? It’s simple. It couldn’t keep up with demand—the tur...

Kind of stands out doesn't it?Despite the rest of the central US getting slammed by the same weather system, Texas seems unique in it's catastrophic inability to respond. Part of the reason is ERCOT.ERCOT is the Texas power grid, and it is almost unique among grid systems in that it has very few connections to…

This story was originally published in 2011. Why does Texas have its own electric grid? Texas' secessionist inclinations have at least one modern outlet: the electric grid. There are three grids in the Lower 48 states: the Eastern Interconnection, the Western Interconnection — and Texas. The Texas grid is called ERCOT, and it is run by an agency of the same name — the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. ERCOT does not actually cover all of Texas. El Paso is on another grid, as is the upper Panhandle and a chunk of East Texas. This presumably has to do with the history of various utilit...

Basically, Texas has its own grid to avoid dealing with — you guessed it — the feds....