Winter Storm Uri

New Texas rules after blackout, but not for this winter

A recent annual winter forecast by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which oversees the reliability of the nation’s electrical sector, projected Texas could have a nearly 40% shortfall in available power to meet demand in the event of another severe storm this winter.

Could energy efficiency and demand response solve Texas’ energy woes?

A new ACEEE report shows how better energy efficiency and demand response programs could give ERCOT 11 GW of flexible demand capacity.

Battered by criticisms over its handling of the February winter storm crisis, the operator of the Texas grid is promising to step up oversight of utility power generation assets statewide and avoid another system breakdown. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas sent a letter to state Gov. Greg Abbot outlining its intended “road map” to be better prepared for winter

Generation outages cause Texas grid scare once again

The Texas power grid, which nearly collapsed due to generation outages during historic winter cold, is being stretched tight again. The culprit is not freezing temperatures which dropped to sub-zero for several days in February, but “tight grid conditions” caused a higher level of generation outage than usual during the pre-summer heat. The system operator Electric Reliability Council of Texas

69-kV transmission rebuild nearing completion in Texas

American Electric Power is having one of its Texas transmission lines upgraded for a potential capacity expansion. ECSL, a joint venture of EC Source and Sargent & Lundy, is rebuilding 28 miles of wooden structures with 485 steel supports to help improve reliability on the AEP Texas Yellowjacket-Junction transmission line near Menard. The rebuilt 69-kV line will accommodate a 138-kV

Texas grid operator ERCOT, which nearly suffered a cataclysmic shutdown of the system during a winter storm earlier this year, said that electricity demand should hit all-time demand highs due to hot and dry weather this summer. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas’s release said it is identifying “low-probability, high-impact situations” similar to the February winter event in its seasonal

Ex-New York power market CEO named interim ERCOT CEO

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – The former CEO of New York’s independent electricity marketer has been named interim CEO of the manager of the electric grid serving 90…

Vistra: Texas freeze caused $1.6B negative cash flow impact

Texas-based power generator Vistra Corp. estimates that the financial impact of Winter Storm Uri cost the company about $1.6 billion in cash flow. A large numbe…

EIA: U.S. Coal-fired generation making 2021 rally so far

By Rod Walton, Power Engineering and POWERGEN Content Director Coal-fired power’s precipitous decline in the U.S. net generation mix has been reversed, for ho…

Oklahoma Gov. Stitt signs bills limiting utility costs from winter storm

Staff and Wire Reports OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a pair of bills Friday to mitigate the skyrocketing storm-related utility costs f…

Winter storm no-fault zone: SPP says gas, coal and wind plants all tripped offline during Uri

By Rod Walton, Power Engineering and POWERGEN+ Content Director It didn’t experience the full-on disaster that befell the Texas grid during February’s histo…

NRG Energy pulls financial guidance, notes $750M impact, $1B cash loss from Texas winter storm

By Rod Walton, Power Engineering and POWERGEN+ Content Director The historic Texas winter storm last month, which caused dozens of deaths, 52 GW in outages and …

Gas

By Pamela Largue, Power Engineering International In the wake of a February winter storm that left Texans reeling from freezing temperatures and failed power ge…

Cogeneration

By Rod Walton, Power Engineering and POWERGEN+ content director Hundreds of Texas-based electric generation units reported nearly 2,000 outage events during the…

ERCOT board fires CEO Magness in wake of Texas February power freezeout

Staff and wire reports Another political victim has fallen in the aftermath of Texas’ disastrous power outages during the historic February freeze. The bo…